U.S. Exporters Fighting Protectionist Trade Bill

A coalition of U.S. industries that depend on exports launched a renewed campaign Monday against protectionist provisions of the omnibus trade bill as House and Senate negotiators prepared to square off later this month on the massive proposal’s most contentious issues.

Representatives of the self-styled Pro-Trade Group told reporters that the congressional negotiators “got off to a good start” when they quickly agreed last week to dump several dozen minor protectionist provisions that had been approved by the House or the Senate.

But the House-Senate conference committee negotiating a final version of the bill still faces the thorniest issues. Among them are the so-called Gephardt amendment, which would penalize countries that carry large trading surpluses with the United States, and a host of provisions to limit presidential discretion in dealing with trade disputes and to make retaliation automatic.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), co-chairman of the key conference subcommittee, has promised Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, that he will not take up his amendment until after the March 8 “Super Tuesday” primaries and caucuses in some 20 states.

Rostenkowski, who opposes the Gephardt amendment, made that promise even though the amendment’s opponents fear it could receive a boost from a strong Gephardt showing in next Tuesday’s Democratic primaries and caucuses.

Can Still Hurt Exports

“It was significant they made such good progress last week,” said an official on the staff of Clayton K. Yeutter, the U.S. Trade Representative, a Gephardt amendment opponent. “It showed they were willing to work in cooperation to clear out a lot of protectionist stuff. But it’s hard to say now what the situation will be politically after next Tuesday.”

Tim Elder, representing Caterpillar Inc. for the Pro-Trade Group, added that congressional negotiators “made a very good start, but it’s only a first step. There’s a lot in the bill that can still hurt exports.”

The Pro-Trade Group and Reagan Administration trade specialists were especially pleased to see the conferees agree quickly last week to dump many extraneous foreign policy initiatives--for instance, an effort to strip Romania of its privileged trading status--that the Senate approved last summer, often with no debate.

Among last week’s other quiet casualties was a measure that would make retroactive for five years a rebate on raw sugar duties paid to refiners that export finished products. That provision would primarily benefit three refiners, industry specialists say.

Also deleted last week was a proposal by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to impose quotas on imports of lamb. Administration trade and agriculture officials had argued that a lamb import quota would undercut long-standing U.S. efforts to persuade Japan to lift import quotas on American beef.

The conferees also agreed to strip out provisions that would have severely penalized U.S. importers that run afoul of technicalities in Customs Service regulations and that would have given private parties a right to initiate legal action against importers suspected of Customs irregularities. Opponents had argued that both measures would have shrunk imports by making them more expensive.

Business Turnaround

Several representatives of the Pro-Trade Group, speaking from personal experience, said U.S. policy should encourage more open world trade, not discourage it.

Elder said Caterpillar, which suffered huge losses in the 1982 recession and lost sales abroad when the dollar soared in value during the mid-1980s, is now working hard to meet foreign orders for heavy equipment. He said the company has added 2,200 jobs this year, 600 in the last six weeks, as export orders have proliferated.

“We’re on a winning streak now,” he said. “Maybe that 2,000-page bill in Congress is coming along too late. Now that we are succeeding--is this the time to try to change the rules?”

Added Mark Nestlen, representing the National Grange, a farm organization headquartered here: “The recovery we are seeing in agriculture is directly due to exports. We are against any legislation that would cause disruptive retaliation against our products, and we oppose any limits on the President’s discretion that would mandate retaliation contrary to our international obligations or invite retaliation by our trading partners.”