Business Notes Trade

When President Reagan refused last summer to impose quotas on shoe imports, he stressed the importance of free trade. But he also promised that the White House would take action against unfair trading practices by foreign countries. In December the Commerce Department initiated a complaint charging that Japanese semiconductor manufacturers were selling products in the U.S. market at prices below the cost of production, a practice known as dumping. That triggered an investigation by the International Trade Commission to determine whether U.S. makers of the 256K DRAM chips commonly used in computers and other electronic equipment had been injured by imports. In a preliminary ruling last week, the ITC found that they had. The Commerce ; Department will now determine whether dumping has occurred. If it has, the department will calculate the dumping margin, which is the difference between Japanese manufacturers' costs and their selling prices. Compensatory duties could then be imposed on Japanese chip imports. By dealing forcefully with specific trade problems, the White House hopes it can quiet the clamor from Congress for more protectionism.