JAPAN'S CHIP MAKERS ANGERED BY U.S. SANCTION PLANS Japanese computer chip makers reacted angrily to news the United States plans to take retaliatory action against them for allegedly failing to live up to an agreement on trade in computer microchips. Electronic Industries Association of Japan (EIAJ) Chairman Shoichi Saba stated: "EIAJ believes that it is premature and even irrational to attempt an assessment of the impact of the agreement and our efforts to comply with it only six months after concluding the agreement." "We urge U.S. Governmental authorities to reconsider the decision made, to evaluate fairly the results of Japanese efforts in implementing the objectives of the agreement, and to resist emotional biases," he said. Yesterday, Washington announced plans to slap as much as 300 mln dlrs in tariffs on Japanese imports in retaliation for what is sees as Japan's failure to comply with the terms of the pact. The agreement, struck late last year after months of heated negotiations, called on Japan to stop selling cut-price chips on world markets and to buy more American-made semiconductors. To salvage the pact, Tokyo has instructed its chip makers to slash production and has helped establish a multi-lateral organisation designed to promote chip imports. Saba said that Japanese chip companies have pledged three mln dlrs over the next five years to the new organisation and expressed regret that no American company has seen fit to join. "This suggests that American semiconductor manufacturers may not be really interested in participating in the Japanese market," he said.