INTERNATIONAL

Japan’s Trade Surplus Hits Record: Japan’s trade surplus soared to a record $107.06 billion last year, a figure likely to provoke more discontent among Tokyo’s increasingly irritated trading partners. The trade surplus for calendar 1992 was up sharply from $77.79 billion in 1991, the Finance Ministry reported. The previous record was $82.7 billion in 1986. Japan’s surplus with the United States widened to $43.67 billion in 1992 from $38.22 billion in 1991. The overall $11.23-billion surplus for December was the second-largest monthly figure ever. The value of exports for 1992 surged by 8% to $339.76 billion. Meanwhile, Japanese imports last year slipped 1.7% to $232.7 billion.