Word: semiconductor
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...question remains of how much discomfort -- not to mention occasional pain -- may be involved. If, as the Reagan Administration hopes, the semiconductor skirmish spurs Tokyo to more urgent efforts to settle trade disputes, it will have served a useful purpose...
...Reagan, weakened by the Iranscam scandal, the sanctions were an unprecedented gamble. On one hand, they expressed the Administration's "profound disapproval" of Japanese trading practices in the sensitive semiconductor field. On the other, they were an integral part of the Administration's strategy to address the country's ghastly trade deficit. The semiconductor measures were also intended, ironically enough, to help block a rising protectionist tide in the U.S. Congress, but they could just as easily have the opposite effect...
...House of Representatives last year but died in the Senate. One version of the new bill is expected to reach the House floor on April 28, the day before Nakasone's visit. Says Senator Max Baucus of Montana, a leading congressional activist on trade issues: "The President's semiconductor action is sort of a turning point. We're going to stop talking and start taking action...
There are additional reasons why the current semiconductor confrontation has more powerful significance than previous trade squabbles. One is the importance of the microchips -- finely etched electronic devices that process thousands of bits of information per second -- to the burgeoning world of high tech. Semiconductors are now used in virtually every advanced technology, including the Cray supercomputers that are a key component of the Reagan Administration's Strategic Defense Initiative. Says C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Washington-based Institute for International Economics: "Practically everyone in the U.S. agrees that semiconductors is a critical industry and that it would...
...twelve-member Economic Policy Council, a Cabinet-level body chaired either by the President or, in his absence, by Treasury Secretary James Baker. With Baker in charge, the council fretted considerably over its decision. According to one Administration insider, there were sharply differing views about the value of the semiconductor agreement in the first place. Nonetheless, the group reluctantly agreed to go ahead with retaliation...