Kantor a Blank Slate on Trade Issues : Transition: Experts say it is probably more important for Clinton’s nominee to bring negotiation skills and political connections to envoy post.

Manatt, Phelps, Phillips & Kantor, the influential Los Angeles law firm that employs U.S. trade representative-designate Mickey Kantor, has rankled some Americans by representing Japanese and Italian banks in takeovers of U.S. financial institutions.

But the firm has also argued in support of a U.S. manufacturer in its battle with a Japanese conglomerate for the contract to build rail cars for the new Los Angeles transit system. And it counts among its clients U.S. tobacco giant Phillip Morris Cos. Inc., which has sought government help in promoting exports of its products to developing countries.

So is President-elect Bill Clinton’s nominee for the nation’s top trade post a free trader who advocates unfettered international commerce or a protectionist who believes in shielding American firms from foreign competition?

The answer, according to those who have worked with Kantor, is neither.

A close look at his law firm’s client list and Kantor’s own professional background suggest absolutely nothing about his views on international trade, a subject to which Kantor has given virtually no thought, associates say.

What matters, according to Kantor confidantes and independent trade experts, is the nominee’s extensive political connections, his negotiating skills and the faith that Clinton places in him.

He’ll need them all.

William E. Brock, former U.S. trade representative and former chairman of the Republican National Committee, said it might be helpful for Kantor to have had some background in international trade matters but that it certainly is not imperative.

Brock said he took the job in the Ronald Reagan Administration with little trade experience but found a wealth of talent in the staff at the agency. Kantor also will find an experienced cadre of experts there, he said.

But after several years of intense work on the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Uruguay Round of global trade reform talks and bitter bilateral disputes with Japan, China and the European Community, many on the staff are burned out and hoping to leave, Brock acknowledged.

“A lot will depend on his skills, and the President’s willingness to stay with him,” said Brock, now a private trade adviser to corporations and foreign governments. “The pressures are going to be enormous. Every interest group will think they can get their pet projects approved or killed. Members of Congress may think they have someone who doesn’t know what he’s doing so they can manipulate him.

“I think it’s going to be a bear, I really do,” he said.

In announcing his selection of Kantor on Dec. 24, Clinton declared: “This task requires a negotiator of consummate skill, someone with political savvy and the absolute confidence of the President.”

Kantor has demonstrated his negotiating skill in numerous business deals, as well as on the politically charged commission that investigated the LAPD’s handling of the Rodney G. King case. In that effort, Kantor forged a strong bond with Warren Christopher, a fellow Los Angeles lawyer who headed the commission and Clinton’s nominee to be secretary of state.

One of Kantor’s law partners said that while Kantor is a blank slate on trade, he probably leans toward the free-trade side of the debate.

“He’s spent 18-19 years in California, where there’s a very high number of Asian business people and banks and trading companies. Naturally, you’re going to represent some of them and pick up some of their ideas,” said this associate, who asked to remain anonymous. “Mickey’s a modern man, very progressive, who has watched the internationalization of trade and business.”

The client roster of Manatt, Phelps--which includes the Japanese electronics giant NEC and the governments of Cyprus and Jamaica--may give Kantor a few rough moments in confirmation hearings before the Senate Finance Committee.

In addition, he almost certainly will be questioned about his work on behalf of the tobacco industry in fighting Beverly Hills’ anti-smoking ordinance, and his representation of Occidental Petroleum Corp. in its efforts to drill wells off the coast of Pacific Palisades.

Kantor never personally lobbied on behalf of Manatt Phelps’ foreign clients and plans to sever all ties with the firm, according to associates.

While many who have worked with Kantor praise him for tact and rectitude, he has alienated some in the environmental community and a number of political co-workers during his many years in Democratic politics.

Kantor had a bitter falling out with former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr., with whom he worked in Senate and presidential campaigns in 1976 and 1982.

Kantor, 53, also angered many of the Clinton campaign’s loyal young aides when he was brought in to quell the firestorm over allegations of Clinton’s marital infidelity that arose during the New Hampshire primary.

A Clinton campaign adviser said that when Kantor “just parachuted in and was superimposed over the young campaign gurus and operatives, there was a resentment that didn’t go away. To have some older dude just come in like that, there naturally would be some resentment.”

But he apparently never lost Clinton’s confidence and now appears headed for a Cabinet-level job, while none of the younger aides is.

The trust of the President-elect may be Kantor’s most valuable asset going into a very sensitive job, observers say.

Harald B. Malmgren, a Washington trade consultant and former senior official in the U.S. trade representative’s office, said the Clinton camp asked his advice on whether the President-elect should appoint a trade expert or a politician to the trade envoy post.

“I took the view it should be a political appointment, not a technical appointment, even though I’m a technocrat myself,” Malmgren said. “I believe the real task of the USTR will be dealing with pressures in Congress, getting legislation through Congress to implement the (Uruguay) Round and NAFTA.”

In addition, he said, Kantor will have to keep the protectionist bloc in Congress at bay while winning market-opening concessions from Japan and other trading partners.

“It’s a plateful. It’s not something a trade technician would be up to,” Malmgren said. “He’s stepping into a jungle full of wild animals, all of which are awakening and all of which are hungry.”

Times staff writer Donna K.H. Walters in Los Angeles contributed to this story.