Commerce Official to Quit to Protest Tariffs on Japan
Gerald M. Marks, head of the U.S. Commerce Department’s regional office in Chicago, intends to announce his resignation Monday to protest the government’s new tariffs on some Japanese imports.
President Reagan imposed $300 million in tariffs on Japanese personal computers, color television sets and power tools Friday in retaliation for alleged Japanese dumping of semiconductors on the world market in violation of a 1986 trade agreement.
Marks, 59, head of the Chicago regional office since 1970, said increasing the tariffs is unjustified and will have disastrous results.
Last week, Marks contacted members of the national and local press and told them in confidence of his plans. On Friday, he sent several news organizations, including The Times, copies of his letter of resignation and a statement he planned to read at a news conference Monday morning, for release on Monday.
Tribune Broke Story
The Chicago Tribune published the contents of the documents in its Saturday edition.
“The simple notion our trade deficit can be solved on a bilateral basis by getting tough with Japan is offering false hope to the nation and could be devastating to the world trading system,” Marks wrote.
A Commerce Department official said Saturday: “We’ve got no comment on his resignation. That’s his stand, that’s his prerogative.”
Marks said the nation’s huge trade imbalance can be reduced significantly only through multilateral negotiations, involving debtor nations as well as the United States’ trading competitors.
Marks also maintained in his resignation statement that the Department of Commerce has failed to fill many positions designated to help American companies sell their products in Japanese markets.
Over 50 Vacancies
” . . . Despite the fact our trade deficit continues to remain high,” he wrote, “the Commerce Department, which is mandated to assist American companies get into exporting, has over 50 unfilled vacancies ‘on hold’ in the domestic service and probably many more in the foreign commercial service. The majority of these are at least six months old. . . . Furthermore, all of the senior executive positions have now been transferred to Washington, where most are occupied by political appointees, contrary to the spirit of the law. . . .”
Marks also contended that the United States sold more goods to Japan in 1986 than to the United Kingdom, West German and Italy combined.
Federal government rules bar officials from holding news conferences without permission from their superiors, but Marks said he would summon reporters anyway on Monday.
“I really feel that strongly about it,” Marks was quoted in the Tribune. “I’m asking that my resignation be effective at the end of this fiscal year (Sept. 30), but they might make it sooner.”
