Compromise on New Trade Pact Likely, Kantor Says : Legislation: Administration may back off on ‘fast track’ provision to help ensure passage by Congress.

Pressing to win approval of a global trade pact and to avoid a damaging showdown with Congress, the Clinton Administration signaled Sunday that it is willing to hold back a legislative provision it had sought for negotiating future trade deals.

The new GATT accord--which would establish a World Trade Organization to govern global commerce--was completed in Geneva last December after seven years of negotiations. It was given final approval in April, and dispatched to about 120 nations for ratification. So far, 26 nations have approved it, but U.S. authorization this year is considered essential for its success.

That approval, however, has hit an unexpected snag in Congress, forcing the Administration to craft a compromise. U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor, speaking at the end of international trade talks in Los Angeles, emphasized Sunday that no final decision has been made on how to overcome the resistance to the agreement, which would liberalize world trade and slash tariffs by an average of 40%.

But Kantor, in an interview with The Times, indicated that the main sticking point--a so-called “fast track” provision for negotiating trade issues--is now less pressing for the Administration than the overall goal of winning approval for the pact in time for a Jan. 1, 1995, international deadline.

The fast-track provision would extend for 2 1/2 more years the authority permitting the President to submit trade accords to the House and Senate for a single vote in each chamber, with no amendments allowed.

Clinton administration strategists hope to win that approval by stripping the fast-track authorization out of this year’s legislation, and then submitting it back to Congress next year.

“We’re fully confident that our efforts will result in ratification,” Kantor said.

His comments Sunday came upon the conclusion of weekend talks among trade representatives from the United States, Japan, Canada and the European Union. No major breakthroughs were announced, as the trading partners focused largely on procedural issues for implementing the trade agreement.