Under pressure to revive the U.S. economy in his bid for reelection, U.S. President George H.W. Bush asked for help from then Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa at their meeting in 1992, according to diplomatic records declassified Wednesday.
In the one-on-one meeting in Tokyo on Jan. 8, 1992, Bush pushed Miyazawa for an agreement on a concrete numerical target regarding exports of U.S. auto parts to Japan, as the two economic powers were embroiled in fierce friction over trade, according to the records compiled based on an account by a senior Japanese diplomat who was at the talks.
At the time, Bush was struggling to pave the way for his second term, with his support rate falling under 50 percent. His trip to Japan in 1992 focused on whether he could win concessions to rectify the United States' trade deficit with Japan, which included autos, to help the U.S. economy recover.
In the meeting, conducted in English without translators, Bush expressed solidarity with Tokyo and called criticism leveled against Japan by the U.S. Congress over trade "ugly," according to the account by Koichiro Matsuura, then director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's North American Affairs Bureau.
Bush then said that he wanted something concrete with numbers that looked good, the records showed.
Miyazawa, in return, told him that Bush's success was vital for his own, but said under a market economy, Japanese businesses cannot make concrete commitments, the records showed.
U.S. National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft was also at the meeting.
Following the 50-minute talks, the leaders announced an action plan that included Japanese automakers volunteering to buy more U.S. automobile parts through measures such as raising procurement goals from 50 to 70 percent.
But Bush's trip to Japan and its outcome, including the action plan, was poorly received by U.S. media, with The New York Times calling the visit a "fiasco."
"The agreement on coordinating the two countries' fiscal policies to speed global growth contained little new or specific," it said in its article dated Jan. 10, 1992.
In the Nov. 3 presidential election of that year, Bush lost to Bill Clinton of the Democratic Party, leaving the White House after one term.
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