U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill intends to press for structural reform in Japan by focusing on direct communication with Japanese executives, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
O'Neill said Monday in an interview with the daily that he would seek solutions for the faltering Japanese economy through dialogue "with industrial people I have worked with who know the real economy." O'Neill is the former chairman of Alcoa Corp., the world's largest aluminum maker.
Noting the severe economic slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, O'Neill, named by President George W. Bush to head the Treasury Department, rejected an approach that "presumes these are the kind of issues that can be dealt with from the top of one government to the top of another."
His comments indicate he will advocate less pressure on foreign governments that was applied by Bill Clinton's administration in its pursuit of a post-Cold War global economy, the New York Times said.