asked the Prime Minister whether he will make a statement on his recent meeting with Prime Minister Tanaka of Japan.

The Japanese Prime Minister and I had very valuable discussions covering a wide range of bilateral issues and world developments. Details are given in the joint communiqué which was issued at the end of Mr. Tanaka's visit, copies of which are in the Library of the House.

Is it not the case that, in spite of the improvement in British exports to Japan, Japanese exports to the European Community have increased two-and-a-half times as fast as Japan's imports in the past four years? If Europe is to avoid the sort of trade war with Japan that the United States has had, should we not have voluntary limitations on Japanese exports, especially in sensitive areas such as electronics and colour television, where people suspect that a Government subsidy may be involved?

We have arrangements with the Japanese for dealing with sensitive areas such as my hon. Friend mentioned. Over the past two years, we have found that these arrangements have worked satisfactorily. As soon as a particular sector of industry has found difficulty, we have been in contact with the Japanese, and in my talks with Mr. Tanaka we agreed that this was much the best way of dealing with the matter. On the other hand, there are other members of the Community who do not have arrangements with the Japanese similar to ours.

In 1972 our exports to Japan increased by only 9·5 per cent. In the first nine months of this year exports have increased by 61 per cent. There is no doubt that there has been a considerable improvement in our exports, but the balance is still in favour of the Japanese.

Will the right hon. Gentleman tell us whether at his recent meeting with the Prime Minister of Japan he discussed the problems of the ball-bearing industry? Is there any truth in the recent Press reports that Japan will do away with its voluntary agreement with this country and flood the market with ball bearings?

I did not discuss this matter specifically with the Japanese Prime Minister, because this is one of the areas where we have the kind of arrangement about which I have been telling the House. As far as I know, there is no truth in the hon. Gentleman's statement, but I shall investigate it again.