The troubled Mitsubishi Motors now exports its Thai pickups to 139 countries, accounting for 21 percent of Thailand's auto exports.

Over the years, the United States and the European Community have each forced Japan to accept limits on its auto exports.

Yonhap, the South Korean press agency, quoted unidentified industry sources as saying that auto exports totaled 304,471 vehicles, up 78.3 percent from 1986 levels.

We cornered the Japanese into limiting their auto exports.

Mexican officials agreed in weekend talks in Mexico City to eliminate their complicated system of matching auto exports and imports in the next decade.

Korean auto exports soared 40 percent in 1993, to 640,000 vehicles, and another strong gain is expected this year.

The issue is current again because Tokyo has just renewed its so-called voluntary restraints on auto exports, invoked as a "temporary" measure in 1981.

South Korean auto exports rose 70 percent in November from a year earlier, to a record 155,388 vehicles, the auto companies said yesterday.

Restraints on Japanese auto exports enabled Japan's producers to increase prices and profits and invest in U.S. production, seizing a larger market share.

In a separate report yesterday, the Government said Japan's trade surplus declined 1.3 percent during August, largely because of an unexpected decline in auto exports.