International Business / The Pacific

U.S., Japan Fail to Settle Insurance Dispute: The two countries did not bridge their large differences over Tokyo’s deregulation of its insurance market in two days of talks, despite a looming June 1 deadline to resolve the dispute. Officials said more discussions will be held soon. The United States charges that Japan has liberalized one small sector of the insurance industry in which foreign firms have made some inroads, while keeping restrictions in most other areas. Washington says the moves violate a 1994 insurance pact that “radical change” in the third sector should be avoided until foreign companies have a reasonable period of time to compete with domestic companies.