THE TRUTH ABOUT AUTO PARTS

Concerned that its eleventh-hour auto trade agreement with Japan last June came across as face-saving, the Clinton Administration today presented its plan for monitoring the deal. The plan would set up a U.S team to monitor the progress of U.S. companies trying to expand into Japan's automobile and auto parts markets. "It's a public relations move to counter the impression that these agreements aren't specific," reports trade correspondent Adam Zagorin. "The Japanese have said publicly that they don't feel bound by these agreements, since they are not specific numerical targets but business projections."