Reagan Won’t Expand Limited S. Africa Curbs

President Reagan is not expected to broaden an executive order invoking limited sanctions against South Africa when it comes up for renewal Sept. 9, White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan said Tuesday.

The President will almost certainly renew the order, which restricts loans, computer sales and the export of nuclear technology to South Africa and imposes a ban on the U.S. sale of new South African gold Krugerrands.

But, contrary to published reports, Regan said, “We’re not considering expanding it.”

The President’s strategy is to wait and see what Congress and the Commonwealth nations do first in adopting measures to pressure the Pretoria government to abandon its apartheid policies, he said in an interview.

Unlikely to Mollify Congress

Another senior Administration official, who asked not to be identified, said that a toughening of the executive order is unlikely to mollify Congress anyway, so Reagan is inclined to hang tough. “We may just stick it out and take it on the chin,” the official said.

The Republican-controlled Senate approved economic sanctions against South Africa last Friday by a vote of 84 to 14, a margin that would ensure an easy override of a presidential veto.

The measure would ban imports of South African uranium, coal, iron, steel, textiles and agricultural products, prohibit any new investments or loans to the Pretoria government, end U.S. landing rights for South African Airways and bar deposits in U.S. banks by the South African government or any government-owned companies.

The White House has apparently decided it cannot head off punitive congressional action with a weaker preemptive measure of its own, such as a toughened executive order.

Regan said he has advised the President to “sit by to see what Congress does and also, if he has the luxury of time, to see what the Commonwealth does.”

The White House position, pitted against the overwhelming congressional sentiment in favor of additional sanctions, virtually guarantees a veto confrontation in September, when Congress and the President return from their summer recess.

“We’ve taken unpopular positions before and won out,” said Regan, citing the President’s recent successful veto of a protectionist textile bill and his hard-fought battle for aid to the Nicaraguan contras.

“We’re not afraid to take unpopular stands,” he said.

Can’t Back Senate Bill

Regan said the White House could not support the Senate package even though it stops far short of a House-passed bill that calls for a trade embargo on everything but strategic minerals and total U.S. divestiture in South Africa.

“If we impose our sanctions, do you think we would be any kind of a factor there?” he asked rhetorically, declaring that the imposition of sanctions would “burn bridges” and end what little influence the Administration has on the Pretoria government.

Regan confirmed that the Administration is still considering sending a black ambassador to South Africa to symbolically underscore its opposition to apartheid, but he said that white candidates are being considered as well.

“We’re looking for the best person,” he said. “We’re not drawing a color line.”

After the publicized candidacies of two potential black ambassadors collapsed for varying reasons this summer, the White House sent current U.S. Ambassador Herman W. Nickel back to his post even though he has indicated he is ready for reassignment after more than four years in South Africa.

Hope to Name Envoy

White House officials hope they will be able to name Nickel’s replacement sometime soon, perhaps to coincide with Reagan’s renewal of the Sept. 9 executive order.

A House-Senate conference committee must now draft the legislation that represents a compromise between the House and Senate bills. It is a virtual certainty that Reagan will veto whatever bill emerges.

It would then take a two-thirds majority of those voting in both the House and Senate to override his veto. Based on the bipartisan mathematics in both the House and Senate votes so far, Reagan’s veto would be easily overridden.

Officials here are so adamant in their belief that Reagan is right in opposing sanctions that they talk of “blaming Congress” if conditions for blacks worsen in South Africa and the government there retaliates against U.S. sanctions by crippling neighboring black states with sanctions of its own on essential commerce.