Clinton Meets With Steel Execs on Cheap Imports

President Clinton met Thursday with steel industry representatives who are seeking help in staving off losses caused by an influx of cut-rate steel flowing in from Asia.

The companies say the imports threaten to send them into a financial tailspin similar to that of the 1980s, when the steel industry, pounded by the recession, resorted to closing plants and implementing massive layoffs.

Their situation poses a problem for the administration, which doesn’t want to run the risk of touching off resistance in Congress to its trade proposals.

Clinton assured the industry that he will raise the issue at the annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Malaysia this month, according to a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity. The president particularly plans to press Japan to strengthen its economy and open its markets to steel imports, the official said.