Canada Acts to Curb Trade With S. Africa

Canada took steps Sunday to curtail its trade with South Africa, announcing some of the broadest sanctions by a Western government so far against the white-minority regime for its apartheid policy.

The measures, detailed in a statement made public in Pretoria, the South African capital, and in Ottawa, include an end to export and investment incentives for Canadian companies doing business in South Africa and restrictions on high-technology sales of sensitive equipment, such as computers, to South African government agencies and state-owned companies. The latter restriction is aimed at preventing the use of such advanced equipment by police and other security forces.

Pullout Not Required

Canada’s action, approved in a weekend Cabinet meeting, stopped short of requiring Canadian firms to pull out of this country, where they have an estimated $200 million invested. Nor does it bar new Canadian investments here. At present, major Canadian companies doing business in South Africa include Bata Shoe Co., Massey-Ferguson, Alcan and the Ford Motor Co.’s Canadian subsidiary.

Sunday’s statement, issued by External Affairs Secretary Joe Clark, cited a “rising tide of revulsion” in Canada over the continuation of South African racial separation policies.

“The fundamental changes in South Africa we had hoped for during the past quarter-century have not come about,” Clark said. “One tragic incident follows another, and almost 400 South Africans have lost their lives in the past year.

“In these circumstances, the persistence . . . of institutionalized racism can only cause a widening gulf between our two countries. We regret that, but the time has come for a basic change, for the repudiation of apartheid, as a concept and a policy.”

The announcement said that Canadian firms operating in South Africa will be required to adhere to a code of fair employment practices, ensuring black workers equal treatment with whites, and that exemption from Canadian taxes for such firms will be ended.

Canada will also phase out over three years its processing of uranium from Namibia, a territory South Africa administers in disregard of U.N. resolutions calling for its independence with majority rule.

And sales of South Africa’s gold Krugerrand coins will be officially discouraged by the government, Clark said, although such sales will not be formally prohibited because of international trade agreements.

“It is a first step,” Clark said of the measures. “There will be others taken over the next year to 18 months.”

Steps by Europeans

Last week, West Germany, a large foreign investor here and one of South Africa’s most important trading partners along with the United States, Britain and Japan, called on its companies to do more to promote racial integration and black advancement in South Africa. Earlier this year, Denmark, Norway and Sweden took steps to limit or reduce their investments in South Africa and to curtail trade with it.

In Washington, the Senate will take up economic sanctions against South Africa, barring substantial progress toward ending apartheid. A bill approved last month by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would bar bank loans to the South African government or state-owned companies, prohibit computer sales to the security forces here and end cooperation in nuclear energy.

Last month, the House of Representatives voted for even broader U.S. sanctions. If the Senate enacts a sanctions measure, any differences between the two bills would have to be resolved in conference before legislation could be sent to President Reagan for signature.

The South African Foreign Ministry, which had expected Canada’s recently elected Progressive Conservative government to be more sympathetic than the Liberal government of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was surprised by Ottawa’s action and had no comment Sunday.