Council Sees Trade Deficit Rising in 1986

U.S. business leaders voiced gloom Saturday over the nation’s huge trade deficit.

Members of the Business Council, ending a three-day conference, seemed to take little comfort from steps being taken by both the Administration and Congress on trade.

Council leaders said that while the trade debt would improve slightly as the dollar continues its downward slide, U.S. manufacturers can expect little major relief.

The council, made up of 65 executives from the nation’s largest corporations, predicts that the trade deficit for 1985 will be $133 billon and will increase to $141 billion in 1986.

“We’re very seriously concerned,” said Ruben Mettler, chairman of both the Business Council and TRW Inc. He said the trade imbalance is causing severe marketing problems for his firm.

James Robinson III, chairman of American Express Corp., cited the “tremendous drag that our adverse trade account has had on the U.S. economy,” pulling down growth in the gross national product by at least two percentage points.