Bipartisan Senators Propose Tough Trade Bill Package : Seek to Speed Handling of Complaints, Expand President’s Powers, Authorize New Talks

Impatient with the Reagan Administration’s trade policy, a bipartisan group of influential senators called Wednesday for tough new laws to combat unfair imports and open foreign markets to American products.

“There is a feeling that it is time for Congress to reassert its constitutional role in foreign trade,” said Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), a co-sponsor of the measure.

The package of 10 proposed bills would speed the handling of trade complaints by U.S. industry, give the President new powers to retaliate against unfair trade practices and authorize a new round of international trade negotiations.

Phalanx of Legislators

The Senate coalition carefully avoided becoming entangled in the specific problems of steel, textiles, shoes or any other industry losing sales to foreign merchandise. Instead, a phalanx of legislators from both parties attended a news conference to say that they have agreed on general measures to establish a more aggressive U.S. trade policy.

Among the package’s provisions:

--The Administration would have to initiate action against unfair trade barriers abroad and retaliate with tariffs and quotas within 18 months. The Administration’s power to reject such steps would be narrowed but not eliminated.

--Presidential power to shield U.S. industry against damaging imports would be increased, but White House leeway to reject recommendations of such action from the U.S. International Trade Commission would be narrowed.

World Commerce Pact

--Presidential authority to enter into negotiations aimed at revising the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the major pact governing world commerce, would be renewed. The authority is scheduled to expire in 13 months.

--The President would be required to start negotiations within six months with the objective of reversing the ill effects of the increase over the last five years in the value of the dollar.

--New standards would be set that would remove certain developing nations from the Generalized System of Preferences, an American program that provides preferential tariffs to products from developing nations. Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong would most likely be affected.

Quick consideration of the legislation on the Senate floor was promised by Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), another co-sponsor.

“Trade is an issue,” Dole said. “If you lose your job, that’s tragic. If you lose your farm, that’s tragic.”

Backers of the legislation, which has 15 Republican and 11 Democratic sponsors, want to “make sure the Administration is more forceful in enforcing the trade laws,” said Sen. John C. Danforth (R-Mo.), chairman of the Senate Finance trade subcommittee.

Danforth predicted confidently that a major trade bill would be passed next year because the Reagan Administration needs approval by Congress to negotiate a new round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the basic pact governing free trade among nations. In return for granting the Administration negotiating authority, Danforth said, Congress will insist on a tougher approach to protecting American businesses and workers.

“American interests are being taken to the cleaners, unfairly,” Sen. John Heinz (R-Pa.) said.

The Administration responded cautiously to the Senate package, relieved that it was not an outright protectionist approach but strongly opposed to any erosion of presidential powers.

The legislation takes “a more constructive approach to the trade issue than the specific industry protectionist bills we have been seeing,” said Roger Bolton, spokesman for Clayton K. Yeutter, special trade representative.

However, he noted, the “Administration certainly does not agree with changes in the President’s authority and cannot endorse those proposals. But overall, the (Senate package) is a generally positive, sensible approach to trade policy.”

Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.), a co-sponsor of the overall bill, said some sponsors of particular parts of the 10-bill package have “gotten a little carried away and included protectionist language that could cost American consumers dearly. This legislation would tie the hands of the President.”

Congressmen Angry

The proposal also would sharply limit the President’s discretion in accepting, or denying, recommendations to help U.S. industries injured by imports. Many members of Congress are angry with the Administration for refusing to apply quotas on foreign shoes, despite a recommendation for help by the independent International Trade Commission.

The President needs freedom of action, Administration officials argue, because the political importance of good ties with particular nations may sometimes override the domestic problems caused by imports. Therefore, the White House is likely to fight any efforts to narrow the President’s choice of tactics in handling trade issues.

But Sen. Steve Symms (R-Ida.), said that congressional intervention is essential because “we are engaged in a trade war right now--and we are losing.”

Confrontation Nears

The next confrontation between the Administration and an increasingly assertive Congress will occur early next month, when the House takes up the Senate version of a bill that would curtail imports of textiles and apparel. The measure would roll back significantly imports from South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong and would impose quotas on shoe imports.

An earlier version passed by the House, despite the strong opposition of the Administration, would have slashed textile and apparel imports from 12 countries, including China and Brazil. The textile industry and its allies hope that the less restrictive Senate version would be acceptable to the White House.

But the Administration remains strongly opposed to the legislation and, if it is passed by Congress, it is “extremely likely the President would veto it,” Bolton said.