Bush, Kaifu Vow to Solve Disputes : Summit: It is unclear what Japan will concede or whether the United States will impose trade sanctions. ‘Global partnership’ is called a goal.

PALM SPRINGS — President Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu ended a 25-hour summit meeting Saturday pledging to “go an extra mile” to resolve pending trade disputes and to begin building a “global partnership” in areas such as security, drug interdiction, the environment and aid to Eastern Europe and Latin America.

In a joint appearance with Bush just after the end of their meeting in nearby Rancho Mirage, Kaifu said he is “determined to firmly tackle” complaints about trade impediments in Japan “as one of the top priorities of my new Cabinet.” He also pledged to help the United States provide aid to Panama and Nicaragua.

In return, Bush said the United States will help ensure that Tokyo has “more of a voice”--commensurate with its heightened economic power--in global foreign policy and economic decisions, forming a “trialogue” with Europe to help manage international problems. He directed Secretary of State James A. Baker III to meet with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama to explore possible avenues to carry out that goal.

The two sides also pledged to renew their efforts to cooperate in trying to help stabilize the value of the dollar. The dollar has risen sharply against the Japanese yen in recent days, eroding U.S. competitiveness by making Japanese imports here cheaper and U.S. exports less attractive in Japan.

There was no immediate indication as to how far Japan might go in making concessions in pending trade disputes--either involving satellites, supercomputers, forest products, telecommunications equipment and shipbuilding, or in broader talks on fundamental economic problems that are contributing to the U.S.-Japan trade imbalance.

Nor did Bush say directly whether he would block retaliatory U.S. sanctions against Japan over the next three months that are threatened under deadlines established in the 1988 Omnibus Trade Act. “I am hopeful we will” be able to avert them, he said, but added that the outcome depends on how the U.S.-Japan talks evolve.

Nevertheless, Bush told a news conference later that he is encouraged by the Japanese leader’s response Saturday and that his Administration got “everything out of this meeting that we had hoped for.”

Even so, the Japanese were decidedly more cautious. Speaking to reporters accompanying him, Kaifu said he told Bush that in responding to American complaints, Japanese negotiators will have to distinguish between “things that could be done rapidly and other problems that would require more time.”

Foreign Minister Nakayama was even more blunt. In the summit meeting Saturday, Nakayama said some of the American demands were “excessively extensive and too detailed,” and he called for a more realistic approach. Earlier, in a separate meeting with Baker, Nakayama warned that a distinction will have to be drawn “between things we can do and things we cannot do.”

Bush, according to Japanese officials, responded by saying, “Each of us must go an extra mile.”

Both U.S. and Japanese officials had hoped that the meeting would help dampen growing resentment in both countries that has built up amid rising economic competition between the two--tensions that policy-makers on both sides have feared could undermine the U.S.-Japanese relationship.

The Administration has been under strong pressure from Congress to “get tough” with Japan by imposing retaliatory sanctions to prod it to eliminate barriers to U.S. products and services. On Friday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.) urged Bush to be “very direct” in conveying this sense of urgency to Kaifu.

But Bush insisted Saturday that he had “an opportunity to be very clear as any congressman would have wanted,” and is “sure that their side understands . . . more clearly right now” the domestic political pressures that the Administration is facing. Asked whether he gave Kaifu any deadlines, the President replied: “The sooner the better.”

Bush also rejected once again suggestions by some lawmakers that the Administration embrace so-called managed trade policies that would seek either to guarantee each side a specific share in the other’s market or limit the size of Japan’s trade surplus with the United States.

He also dismissed fears that Japanese investment in the United States might threaten America’s ability to control its own destiny. “Japanese investment means jobs for Americans,” he said.

He agreed with Japanese assertions that the United States must do more to improve its international economic competitiveness by reducing its budget deficit, spurring more saving and investment and improving the quality of American-made goods. “Let’s face it--these talks are a two-way street,” the President said.

The broad U.S.-Japanese talks mentioned by Bush seek to correct underlying economic problems in each country that are exacerbating the trade imbalance.

Washington wants Japan to end bid-rigging and collusive business practices, revamp its pricing system, eliminate barriers that foreigners face when they want to distribute their products in Japan and open up more farmland in urban areas to help reduce real estate prices.

In his press conference, Bush said he also brought up the problem of semiconductors--an issue that Japanese officials never mentioned in their briefings to reporters accompanying Kaifu. The two countries signed an accord in 1986 intended to resolve disputes in this area, but American chip makers have charged that Japan is not keeping its side of the bargain.

In other action Saturday, Bush also reassured Kaifu that despite its plans to withdraw some American troops from Japan, the United States will “remain a Pacific power” and uphold the U.S.-Japan security treaty. Kaifu had sought such public assurances to offset growing apprehension in Japan that in the face of an apparently diminished Soviet threat, the United States would pull out of the Asian region.