MT142

7 September 1995

US-JAPAN AUTO AGREEMENT - AUSTRALIAN MONITORING ARRANGEMENTS NOW IN PLACE

The final element of the Government's strategy to monitor the implications of the US-Japan Auto Agreement on Australian exports was finalised overnight with the United States, the Minister for Trade, Senator Bob McMullan, said today.

Senator McMullan said the agreement to establish a consultative arrangement with the US is equivalent to the agreement reached with Japanese Trade Minister Hashimoto in Canberra on 25 August.

"Establishing these arrangements with both the US and Japan is consistent with the balanced approach Australia pursued as an interested party in the course of the WTO dispute process earlier this year," Senator McMullan said. "The arrangements provide us with an agreed structure to raise any Australian concerns over implementation of the Auto Agreement directly in Washington and Tokyo.

"Both the US and Japan are important markets for our automotive exports, and we do not want our trade with either country disadvantaged by the Agreement. The overall framework we now have in place will enable Australia to remain actively and directly involved in monitoring developments affecting Australia in the implementation of the Agreement.

"And it will help us to ensure that the market opening opportunities provided for by Japan under the Agreement will provide benefits to the Australian industry."

The possibility of consultations between Australia and the US to monitor implications of the Agreement was raised by Senator McMullan when he met with USTR Kantor in Washington in July.

The domestic element of the Government's strategy on the Auto Agreement is the Automotive Task Force announced by Senator McMullan and Senator Cook on 22 August. Together with the arrangements with the US and Japan, the Task Force will help to protect Australian automotive exports and the future prospects for automotive workers.

The Task Force - comprising Senator McMullan, Senator Cook, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, the Federation of Automotive Products Manufacturers, the unions and component industry representatives - will meet on Friday, 15 September, in Adelaide.

Further information: John Flannery, (06) 277 7420