House Panel Votes Tough Trade Bill

The House Ways and Means Committee, reflecting a strong bipartisan majority, Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a tough omnibus trade policy bill that Republicans and Democrats alike predicted President Reagan would sign.

However, committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) predicted a “good fight” on the House floor to keep other Democrats, including House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) and presidential candidate Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), from loading the bill with protectionist measures that would provoke Reagan’s veto.

At a news conference, Gephardt announced that he intends to bring to the House floor an amendment that would require retaliation against countries such as Japan that refuse to reduce their surpluses by a set annual amount.

But Rostenkowski said he is optimistic that Congress will be mindful of the fate that met last year’s trade bill, which died in the Senate in the face of Republican opposition to its strong protectionist sanctions.

Praised by Republicans

“It’s almost degrading to suggest that we create legislation so that it’s vetoed,” Rostenkowski said earlier Wednesday in a breakfast session with The Times’ Washington Bureau. “My main purpose in putting together legislation is to put something on the President’s desk that he can sign and that we could announce to our trading partners as our united position.”

The proposal backed by Rostenkowski was approved by the committee on a 34-2 vote, and was praised by Republican members of the panel.

The committee’s bill includes several key provisions that would limit presidential authority. They would:

--Transfer from Reagan to the U.S. trade representative the power to order import curbs to aid industries injured by foreign competition. Reagan has been reluctant to impose such sanctions.

--Transfer to the trade representative authority to retaliate against unfair foreign trade practices by other nations and, in a limited number of cases, make retaliation through import tariffs or quotas mandatory. The bill would, however, require consultation with the President and would permit him to overrule retaliation if he believes it would harm national economic security.

Denial of Worker Rights

--Broaden the definition of unfair trade practices by other nations to include denial of certain worker rights, such as collective bargaining, a minimum age for working children or, in more developed countries, minimum wage and maximum hour standards. Such practices can help nations sell goods at low prices that undercut U.S. competitors.

--Improve unemployment and retraining benefits for U.S. workers who lose their jobs because of competition from imports. It would give all unemployed workers in industries held to be injured by imports automatic entitlement to trade adjustment benefits.

--Grant the Administration authority to negotiate a new General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the pact that governs much of world commerce.

Rostenkowski called the measure “tough but fair” and committee Republican Bill Frenzel of Minnesota expressed confidence that the Administration will back away from its previous objections that it excessively limits presidential flexibility on trade negotiations and includes measures that would trigger retaliation from other countries.

Confrontation Not Wanted

“It’s my feeling the Administration wants a bill the President can sign. It doesn’t want a confrontation. And I believe the committee has come such a long way (that) the process can be successful,” Frenzel said.

The endorsement by such committee Republicans as Frenzel, John J. Duncan of Tennessee and Bill Archer of Texas may effectively counter the public warning issued recently by U.S. Trade Representative Clayton K. Yeutter that a veto is still possible.

In his interview with The Times, Rostenkowski said: “It’s wonderful to work with a minority that’s willing to contribute, because I haven’t had that privilege too often.”

Rostenkowski, looking ahead to the fight on the House floor, said the trade issue may be “the first test of Jim Wright’s leadership.”

Rostenkowski wants to get his bill to the floor under a parliamentary rule that would sharply limit amendments. But Wright and other Democratic colleagues who favor stronger measures may attempt to make significant revisions.

Boosting Competitiveness

The committee bill contains a far weaker version of the amendment proposed by Gephardt to help bolster U.S. industries’ competitiveness. While singling out countries for retaliation that have large trade surpluses with this nation, it would not demand any set annual reduction in their surpluses.

The Administration has insisted that strong sanctions would likely bring trade retribution from other countries, and Rostenkowski, in The Times interview, said that “Gephardt was the one provision” in last year’s omnibus trade bill that even House supporters “had second thoughts (about), or still have second thoughts.”

Rostenkowski said that Gephardt and organized labor, which is calling for stringent measures, have “every right to try to fight that fight on the floor,” and he predicted “a fair, good fight.”

In other trade action this week, other committees pushed forward with trade matters under their jurisdiction. On Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee narrowly passed a controversial measure that would require disclosure of significant foreign interest in privately held U.S. business and property.

Under the measure, a foreigner with 5% equity in an American company with gross sales of more than $10 million a year would have to disclose the owner’s identity, nationality and price paid for his share.

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