U.S. Commerce Secretary Norman Mineta was to recommend that President Bill Clinton slap Japan with economic sanctions due to its expanded whaling program, U.S. government officials said Tuesday.
In a report to be submitted to Clinton on Wednesday, Mineta maintains that Japan's new whaling operations, for what it calls scientific purposes, have been offsetting efforts by the International Whaling Commission to manage whale resources. , the officials said. Mineta was to announce the recommendation at a news conference at around 11 a.m. Wednesday, the officials said.
U.S. law empowers the commerce secretary to recommend the president take punitive measures, including an import curb, against a country judged to be endangering marine resources.
The recommendation by Mineta would be the third of its kind made by a commerce secretary regarding Japan's whaling. Two prior ones -- in 1987 and 1995 -- were dismissed.