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The Clinton Administration and the 103rd Congress are in the early stages of a major review of U.S. trade, international and security relations with Japan, the principal U.S. ally and trading partner in Asia. A number of recent developments have raised tensions in this mutually beneficial relationship, which is still characterized by deepening economic interdependence and close political and security cooperation. These include the end of the Cold War, which has eliminated a common military threat; the recent renewed rise in Japan's trade surplus after several years of decline; and increasing international assertiveness by Japan, sometimes in conflict with U.S. policy.

Japan's global current account surplus is expected to reach $150 billion in 1993, up substantially from a modest $36 billion in 1990. The movement of Japan's current account surplus in this period is, perhaps, more dramatic as a share of GDP, going from a substantial 3.6 percent in 1987, down to a modest 1.2 percent in 1990, and up again to about 3.1 percent in 1992. Japan's growing surplus is criticized as a consequence of that country's barriers to trade, and as a drag on the economic recovery of the world economy.

For at least 15 years Members of Congress have continued to ask: How many U.S. manufacturing plants have closed? For at least 15 years they have continued to ask: How many U.S. manufacturing plants have relocated abroad, and where have they gone? For at least 15 years the answer has been: For the most part, those questions can't be answered, based on Government data. How many plants are moving to Mexico? What industries and what States are the plants from? How many U.S. workers are losing their jobs as a result? It appears that still, after two legislative attempts to mandate collection of these data, the Government publishes no counts of U.S. plant closings, and almost no information on plant relocations. Options for strengthening the data systems include addressing three main weaknesses: inadequate data program design, a plant closing definition that misses its mark, and publication of partial instead of complete survey results.

There are ten categories of courts (including the local courts of the District of Columbia) to which the President nominates judges. The report provides background and statistics concerning President Bush's judicial nominations in each court category as well as actions taken on those nominations by the United States Senate. Each of the report's ten sections discusses the composition and jurisdiction of the court in question and notes the committee to which nominations to this court were referred when received by the Senate. Also, statistics on judicial nominations received by the Senate during the four years of the Bush Presidency are presented.

Steel jaw leghold traps are used in 47 States in the United States to capture furbearing animals (Florida and Rhode Island have prohibited use except with special permit for nuisance animals, and New Jersey has banned all uses). In addition to use by the fur industry, these traps are employed by State agencies in game management (e.g., to control predators and diseases). The leghold trap issue pits animal welfare groups opposed to the pain and suffering of trapped animals against supporters of the trap who maintain that alternatives are not cost effective and/or efficient.