Bill Clinton: “I just don't know. You know, the problem may be--it may be one of words; it may be one of the feelings behind the words.…”

“I just don't know. You know, the problem may be--it may be one of words; it may be one of the feelings behind the words. Japan has taken the position with which we on the surface do not disagree, that Japan does not wish to commit numerical targets that amount to managed trade. We understand that. We have taken the position that there have to be some objective standards by which to judge whether we are making progress or not, because if we just talk about improving processes, that is what we have done in the past without much progress. That is why last summer we used the words ``objective criteria'' to include quantitative measures or qualitative measures or both, as appropriate. For example, I agree that it's not fair to disregard--let me give you some examples--let's suppose there's an area in which our trade is in great imbalance. You have to take into account, in addition to whether there has been progress from, let's say, 1992 to 1995, also what happened to the exchange rate, what happened to domestic demand and the economy in Japan, whether the American business in question produced a product competitive in price and quality and did the things necessary to pierce the Japanese market. So, it's not for us--we don't think we're asking for numerical targets, we think we're asking for a set of objective criteria by which we can judge whether we're making progress in opening the market. That, I think, is a fair statement of the nub of our argument. And I have no idea what will happen from here on in. We just didn't make it. Yes, go ahead. Bosnia”