YEUTTER SAYS U.S.-JAPAN TRADE DIFFICULTIES REMAIN U.S. Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter said he was unsure whether some of the trade issues straining U.S.-Japanese relations would be resolved before the two countries open trade talks in late April. "We are having high level discussions on them (the issues) within the United States...The relationship on some of those is very strained between us (Japan) at the moment and we need to relieve those strains at the earliest possible date," he said. "I am not sure we can wait until late April," he added. Yeutter is in New Zealand for a two-day informal meeting of trade ministers who are reviewing the Uruguay round of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT). He said he will meet the Japanese delegation over the next few days but declined to discuss methods of relieving the strain between the two countries. Yeutter said earlier the three most contentious trade issues were semiconductors, Japanese government unwillingness to allow public entities to buy U.S. Super-computers and the barring of U.S. Firms from the eight billion U.S. Dlr Kansai airport project near Osaka. The Japanese delegation to the GATT talks said in a statement yesterday they are making major efforts to dismantle trade barriers in their country. "I am convinced that they are attempting to move their policies in the right direction. The question is how far and how fast," Yeutter said.