The trade deficit

Question

U.S. officials complain that the country's trade deficit with Japan is due to the fact that Japan's markets are not open enough to import and investment . Japanese officials reply that the United States should concentrate on improving its school system and investing more money in scientific research and worker training .

It can be inferred from the statements above that the Japanese officials most probably hold which of the following opinions ?

(A) The United States should open its own market to more import and investment .

(B) The trade deficit between United States and Japan is more a result of poor American Industrial performance than Japan's import restrictions .

(C)The trade deficit between the United States and Japan is a result of Japan's closed markets.

(D)U.S. school system foster a mistrust of Japan that prevents U.S. business people from negotiating intelligently with Japan.

(E)Better education and worker training can help shrink the trade imbalance , but should not be counted on to close the gap entirely.

Please give explanation for your answers.

Source : Kaplan.

paddle_sweep · Answer

IMO it's B. Pls post OA.

gsinghal · Answer

IMO B

because it says that the poor industrial performance of US is responsible for the trade deficit and this poor performance is because of less concentration of knowledge imparted through schools and also less spending on scientific research and worker training.

akhpad · Answer

OA: B

I would like to re-open it.
Can someone explain about each options?

A: Japanese has not said that US should open new market => Eliminated
B: It could be Japanese's opinion
C: This is US officials's opinion => Eliminated
D: ?
E: ?

paes · Answer

akhp77 wrote:OA: B

I would like to re-open it.
Can someone explain about each options?

A: Japanese has not said that US should open new market => Eliminated
B: It could be Japanese's opinion
C: This is US officials's opinion => Eliminated
D: ?
E: ?

D : argument is not saying anything about MISTRUST. --- Eliminate
E : very generic statement, not specific to US or JAPAN. Also 'but should not be counted on to close the gap entirely' no such hint from the argument --> eliminate
--- generic statements are generally wrong with inference questions because inference should come only from the fact given in the argument.

liferocks · Answer

I will go with B
I got it by elimination,

(A) The United States should open its own market to more import and investment .-->Japan has not mentioned that they want to invest more in US but they want US to improve in scientific research and worker training,so opening US market is not a solution.Eliminated.

(B) The trade deficit between United States and Japan is more a result of poor American Industrial performance than Japan's import restrictions .

(C)The trade deficit between the United States and Japan is a result of Japan's closed markets.-->US officials opinion Eliminated.

(D)U.S. school system foster a mistrust of Japan that prevents U.S. business people from negotiating intelligently with Japan.---> no mention about this .Also this does not justify why Japan wants US to improve more on scientific research and worker training ..eliminated

(E)Better education and worker training can help shrink the trade imbalance , but should not be counted on to close the gap entirely. -->first section is what japan has mentioned clearly but the section 'should not be counted on to close the gap entirely' is not mentioned anywhere.It is out of context...eliminated

“If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
Lewis Carroll

akhpad · Answer

Thanks

bupbebeo · Answer

rockeyb wrote:U.S. officials complain that the country's trade deficit with Japan is due to the fact that Japan's markets are not open enough to import and investment . Japanese officials reply that the United States should concentrate on improving its school system and investing more money in scientific research and worker training .

It can be inferred from the statements above that the Japanese officials most probably hold which of the following opinions ?

(A) The United States should open its own market to more import and investment .

(B) The trade deficit between United States and Japan is more a result of poor American Industrial performance than Japan's import restrictions .

(C)The trade deficit between the United States and Japan is a result of Japan's closed markets.

(D)U.S. school system foster a mistrust of Japan that prevents U.S. business people from negotiating intelligently with Japan.

(E)Better education and worker training can help shrink the trade imbalance , but should not be counted on to close the gap entirely.

Please give explanation for your answers.

Source : Kaplan.

IMO: B

This is a refer question so the correct answer should paraphrase the information in the stimulus or combine information in the stimulus.

America blames Japanese restrictions for its trade deficits. Japanese official's reply is as opposed response to american official's reply. so we expect that Japanese officials imply another reason for american's deficit not Japan's restrictions.

Japanese officials say that america should train its worker and invest more in scientific research. it may imply that current economic performance of America may be not good.

B offers us the statements which expresses what I have argued. So, it is correct answer.

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