ABSTRACT
Nontariff barriers (NTBs) are important as barriers to the entry of major markets by US high-tech companies, and significant in the calculations of these firms as they strategize around these barriers. There are many justifications for responding to NTBs, of which two predominate within government. Improved anticipation would, in turn, permit the mobilization of private industrial constituencies that are politically dormant, either because they fail to recognize the negative impacts of NTBs or because they are badly organized. This presents a dilemma that the government has to confront. The distortions created by the trade barrier continue to exist but become an integral part of the trading and investing relationship between the United States and the country involved. NTBs in high-technology industries have been at the center of bilateral negotiations with the Japanese in particular, and an important aspect of preparations for the major round of multilateral negotiations more likely to take place later this year.
