Quayle, in Japan, Complains to Leaders About Poor Sales of U.S.-Made Cars

TOKYO — Vice President Dan Quayle started his visit here Monday by opening a new front in U.S. efforts to crack the Japanese market: complaining to Japan’s top leadership about the poor sales of American cars in Japan.

In meetings with Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu and Eiichi Nakao, minister of international trade and industry, Quayle said the inability of U.S. auto makers to sell their vehicles through Japanese dealers should become the subject of governmental trade negotiations, according to U.S. and Japanese officials.

Quayle’s move raises a new political issue in the increasingly sensitive arena of global automobile trade. With the U.S. industry suffering from severe losses and layoffs, the Administration has come under pressure from Chrysler Corp. Chairman Lee A. Iacocca, among others, to restrict sales of Japanese cars in the United States.

The White House has rebuffed Iacocca’s proposal but appears anxious to be seen as sympathetic to American industry.

On another trade irritant--Japan’s closed rice market--officials here indicated modest flexibility by saying that Japan’s willingness to allow rice imports hinges on concessions by the United States and European Community on reforming the international trading system.

Kaifu and Nakao said they will take Quayle’s concerns under consideration, according to officials who were present at the meetings.

But some Japanese officials reportedly reacted with indignation, saying that American auto makers have only themselves to blame for failing to sell more of their cars here.