Cranston Urges Aggressive Action to Cut Trade Deficit

Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston on Tuesday urged Congress and the Reagan Administration to take the offensive in the international trade battle, saying that the country’s $170-million trade deficit is “holding back the economic future of California and the nation.”

Prior to a meeting of the International Trade Commission here, Cranston, who is now in the final two weeks of his campaign for a fourth term, suggested four ways to cut the trade deficit by 20%:

- Congress should pass a bill that Cranston introduced to make it harder for foreign competitors to “dump” products in the U.S. market.

- A West Coast export license office should be opened in California to speed up licensing procedures and reduce the number of high-tech items that the Defense Department is trying to bar from exportation.

- There should be guaranteed loans for American exporters to help them compete with foreign companies that are government subsidized.

- The United States should establish a Cabinet-level department of trade.

“I don’t think American corporations have been aggressive enough” in trying to crack foreign markets, Cranston said. “They also have not had help from educators. Until recently, American universities have not paid any attention to world trade in their curriculums. If we don’t train people in the cultures of other countries and their economic priorities and their languages, we are going to have a tough time competing.”

The trade commission members effusively thanked Cranston for his role in bringing a U.S. Department of Commerce office to San Diego.