61.   Tokyo maintains that the US decision to resort to the sanctions threat was a unilateral move backed only by the force of US domestic trade law.

62.   Washington should withdraw the sanctions threat, he said.

63.   US officials have dismissed suggestions that their sanctions threat should be withdrawn.

64.   Zimbabwe has officially declared a dispute with the European Union over sanctions threats and other differences, a government daily said Wednesday.

65.   Japan denounced the sanction threat and has warned it might take the case to the World Trade Organization in Geneva.

66.   Japan denies it unduly curbs market access and argues that the unilateral sanctions threat violates WTO rules.

67.   Japanese officials had said they would not be willing to resume negotiations with the United States as long as the sanctions threat is on the table.

68.   Japanese officials have insisted that they will not negotiate a deal on auto sales until the sanctions threat is withdrawn.

69.   Japanese officials have said they would not be willing to resume negotiations with the United States as long as the sanctions threat is on the table.

70.   Japanese harbor workers last month staged a one-day strike to protest the US sanctions threat.