YEUTTER SEES U.S., JAPAN VERGING ON TRADE CONFLICT The United States and Japan are on the brink of serious conflict on trade, especially over semiconductors, Japanese unwillingness for public bodies to buy U.S. Super-computers, and barriers to U.S. Firms seeking to participate in the eight billion dlr Kansai airport project, U.S. Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter said. He was talking to reporters yesterday on the eve of a two-day meeting of trade ministers which will review progress made by committees set up after the Uruguay meeting last September launched a new round of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) talks. European Community (EC) commissioner Willy de Clercq meanwhile told reporters conflict between the world's three major trading and economic powers -- the EC, the U.S. And Japan -- set a poor example for other members of GATT. Australian Trade Minister John Dawkins told the reporters bilateral retaliation at the enormous expense of the rest of the world was no way to solve trade disputes. New Zealand trade minister Mike Moore told his colleagues great progress had been made in preparing for the current round of GATT negotiations which must not be sidetracked. The ministers have said they want to maintain the momentum towards fresh negotiations or avert serious trade conflicts. Yeutter said the problem with international trade talks was that they tended to get bogged down for years. "Countries don't get very serious about negotiating until the end of the day which is, maybe, five or six years in the future." He also said he did not consider the new U.S. Congress as protectionist as it was 18 months ago. "That's a very healthy development," he added."If you asked me about that a year or 18 months ago I would have said that it was terribly protectionist." "Members of Congress, that is the contemplative members of Congress, have begun to realise protectionism is not the answer to the 170 billion dlr trade deficit," Yeutter said. "They've also begun to realise that you cannot legislate solutions to a 170 billion dollar trade deficit so they are more realistic and, in my judgement, more responsible on that issue than they were 12 or 18 months ago." He added, "Whether that will be reflected in the legislation that eventually emerges is another matter."