JAPAN

Japan to Cut Car Exports to EC--but How Much?European Community officials in Brussels said Japan has agreed to cut vehicle exports 6% cent this year. That contradicted EC and Japanese officials in Tokyo, who said the cut was likely to be 1.5% to 2%. A senior official in Brussels said the EC would never have accepted a 2% cut. Officially, neither side will discuss terms of the agreement. “The key thing here is that the Japanese have accepted (that they need) to reduce exports,” said Antonio Menezes, spokesman for the EC delegation in Tokyo. An official of Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry said: “Japan will monitor car exports so as not to cause market disruption (in the European Community).”