East Asian countries have been given assurance...

East Asian countries have been given assurance that their commercial interests in the United States would not be affected by their large trade deficits with the United States.

Gaston Sigur, the U.S. assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told a seminar in Kuala Lumpur that the American market for Asian products would neither be closed nor would sanctions be levied indiscriminately.

Said Sigur: “Let me assure you that we do not intend to let our immediate concerns over trade imbalances obscure our fundamental principle of prosperity through unfettered trade.”

American trade with East Asian and Pacific nations accounted for slightly more than a third of its worldwide commerce last year, but its trade deficit with these nations comprised 62% of its global shortfall, Sigur said.