Reagan, Singapore’s Lee Meet, Talk of Wider Trade

President Reagan and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew reaffirmed their shared opposition to protectionism today and insisted the goal should be expansion, not limiting free trade as proposed by Congress.

Reagan and Lee, described as old friends, engaged for almost an hour in a “very warm” discussion about “the problems of the international economy and the dangers of protectionism--the importance of the United States in the past having kept open its markets,” a senior White House official said.

The official said Reagan “indicated his determination to keep up the fight” against protectionist legislation now before Congress. He said the two leaders reaffirmed their shared opposition to protectionism and their support for the non-communist resistance in Cambodia.

Earlier, during the welcoming ceremony on the South Lawn, Reagan told Lee, “I’m certain that you will agree relative free and open trade has been a key element of our (economic) success.” He noted the United States is the largest foreign investor in Singapore with 400 companies and “our people are joined in a multitude of enterprises.”

“A principal foreign policy objective of the United States is to protect and expand free trade by opening markets now closed or unfairly regulated,” Reagan said.

Emphasizing that expansion of free trade is a major goal, Reagan said, “I hope we can stand shoulder to shoulder” and noted that “protectionism is a threat to the living standards our people have struggled so hard to build.”

“Once unleashed it will set in motion a cycle of reaction and paralysis eventually destroying those it claims to protect,” the President said.

Reagan also reaffirmed that the United States “is and will remain a Pacific rim country.”

The President praised Lee for the “heartening role” he has played against the occupation of Cambodia and his stand in support of a political settlement in that Southeast Asian country against military subjugation by Vietnam.

The Asian leader, dressed in a dark blue suit, recalled that his first visit to the United States was during the Johnson era. He said that with the communist takeover of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in 1975, the nations in the region feared that “American resolve to stay in the area would melt.”

Instead, Lee said the United States was instrumental in helping the non-communist nations to “boost their economic growth.”

“Rambo” star Sylvester Stallone, actress Raquel Welch and Shirley Temple Black, former chief of protocol, were among those attending the welcoming ceremony.