Dukakis Switches, Supports Trade Restrictions

Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, who has been saying for months that the President doesn’t need any new powers against unfair foreign trade competition, declared Monday that he supports trade restrictions proposed by Sen. Donald W. Riegle Jr. (D-Mich.), who endorsed Dukakis’ presidential bid.

Dukakis picked up a valuable boost for Saturday’s Democratic caucuses with the press conference announcement of support from Riegle and several members of the Michigan delegation in the House. The endorsements and his trade stand should help Dukakis in a state where trade is a hot issue and where domestic auto producers have been hard hit by foreign competition.

However, Dukakis’ stand on trade restrictions brought a sharp response from one of his Democratic rivals, Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), the original author of tough trade legislation.

Gephardt, who apparently learned of the endorsements earlier in the day, put out a press release denouncing Dukakis even before the Massachusetts governor held his own press conference.

“On the central issue in this campaign, Mike Dukakis is trying to have it both ways,” Gephardt said. “Mike Dukakis may talk tough on trade in Michigan but everywhere else he has consistently opposed tough legislation.”

Dukakis has long maintained a strong position against Gephardt’s amendment, which would identify countries that run a big trade surplus with the United States, and then force those countries to eliminate unfair trade barriers and buy more U.S. products or face retaliation, such as import quotas, from the United States.

The controversial Gephardt amendment has been supported by the United Auto Workers and other powerful labor unions. Dukakis, in debates with Gephardt, had said that the President has sufficient authority and that the Gephardt amendment was dangerously protectionist.

At Monday’s news conference, under repeated questioning, Dukakis denied that he had shifted his position. He said that the Gephardt amendment had a “fatal weakness” because it could automatically trigger action simply on the basis of a trade surplus by another nation. Dukakis said he supported Riegle’s amendment because it gives the President “the authority to act on a broader basis, to do so with sufficient discretion.”

The Monday night news conference for Dukakis featured endorsements by Riegle and two Democratic congressmen from Michigan, Bob Traxler and Dale E. Kildee. Also attending was Rep. Dennis M. Hertel, the head of the Dukakis campaign in Michigan.