TOKYO (Reuters) – The United States on Monday urged Japan to make sure it won’t discriminate against U.S. competitors in areas of insurance, banking and express delivery services as Tokyo re-examines the future of its giant postal system.

Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis also said Washington wanted to normalize beef trade with Tokyo in a way that was “science-based and commercially viable.”

Marantis, in Tokyo for the first time in his current capacity, reiterated Washington’s stance that Japan must ensure that domestic and foreign companies will be able to compete on equal footing as state-owned Japan Post offers new services.

Japan is freezing sales of shares in Japan Post’s financial units, in a retreat by the four-month-old government from a high-profile pro-market reform.

But the full picture of the government’s plan to revise the privatization plan, which was pushed by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, remains unclear.

Japan Post Bank and Japan Post Insurance together hold around 300 trillion yen ($3,318 billion) in assets.

Marantis said he had constructive talks with his Japanese counterparts on what he called “difficult” issues — including insurance, beef and automobiles — in an otherwise “very healthy and robust” bilateral trade relationship.

“I made the point very clear that we are looking to normalize beef trade in a way that is both science-based and commercially viable, and looking forward to working with the Japanese government to accomplish those objectives,” Marantis said.

Washington wants Japan to lift its ban on U.S. beef from cattle over the age of 20 months, as the restriction is seen hurting the U.S. beef industry.

Japan bought almost $1.4 billion of U.S. beef a year before the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease in the United States in December 2003, making it the top U.S. export market.

Tokyo later allowed a limited number of imports from imports from young cattle, but the U.S. beef industry has estimated it is losing about $1 billion in sales per year because of the restrictions.

Marantis said he was “very pleased” with Japan’s decision last month to change its auto replacement incentive program to give U.S. cars more chance to qualify.

A recent string of recalls issued by Toyota Motor Corp covering 8 million vehicles worldwide, was not discussed in his talks with Japanese officials, Marantis added.

($1=90.40 Yen)

(Editing by David Fox)