European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 16, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes sunday March 16, 1986 columns & comments David Broder things getting better As protectionist fever cools no one could seriously maintain that the Trade Issue has cooled off not when 41 senators stand up one after another to denounce the threat of Canadian lumber imports As they did the other Day. But the atmosphere has changed since last year and in ways that offer Hope of sounder american policy. Last Spring i wrote a column about the decision of sen. Lloyd m. Bentsen a Texas an influential member of the Senate finance committee and longtime advocate of Liberal Trade policies to lend his prestige to an openly protectionist piece of legislation. Joining chairman Dan Rostenkowski d-i11., of the House ways and Means committee and chairman Rich Ard Gephardt d-mo., of the House democratic caucus he co sponsored a Bill that would slap severe tariffs on Japan and other countries unless they opened their Home markets to american goods and reduced their Trade sur pluses with the United states. Bentsen was Frank to say then that he would forget All these things if we had a president who would make this Trade problem a major priority for the recently i talked to Bentsen again and he said thank goodness we be seen some response by the administration. They have begun to Bentsen s Bill never came to a vote but the message got through. One Man who appreciates and can claim some cred it for the improved climate on the Touchy import Issue is Clayton k. Yeutter. He took Over the Job As the presi Dent s special Trade representative just about the time Bentsen & co. Were expressing their exasperation. When Yeutter was starting my colleague at the Washington Post Hobart Rowen wrote that he had undertaken Mission looking Back Yeutter said in Carl Rowan a recent interview he does not disagree. Economically politically it was very Tough. I was amazed at the feeling on Capitol Hill among republicans and democrats that no one in the administration was paying attention to the Issue he said. That is not a rap on Bill Brock who had the Job before Yeutter and was shifted to Secretary of labor. Brock is one of the Ablest people in the administration and has Many person Al friendships on Capitol Hill from his Days in the House and Senate what Yeutter was indirectly confirming is what everyone knows that president Reagan and White House chief of staff Donald t. Regan mistakenly thought they could get through 1985 focusing on taxes and budget and summits and leave the Trade problem for later. They Learned better. While the administration is More committed to free Trade than Many on Capitol Hill it is also More realistic about the economic and political pressures that imports create. Congress recognizes the difference. Rostenkowski will take Yeutter along on the ways and Means committee s Retreat to discuss the shape of the Trade Bill that speaker Thomas p. Tip o Neill jr., d-mass., wants ready for action this Spring. The priority the speaker is giving the Trade problem is evidence that it remains a potent and painful political Issue. From the potato Fields of Maine to the Copper mines of Arizona there Are thousands probably millions of workers and businessmen who see foreign imports As a threat to their livelihoods. A Bill to restrict imports of textiles and shoes which Rea Gan vetoed last year is being kept alive in suspended Anima Tion awaiting a politically timed override attempt closer to election Day. The Milder 1986 Trade Bill that a number of Senate republicans and House democrats Are framing to strengthen the president s authority in seeking reciprocity and to limit his discretion in providing import hardship Relief May or May not escape a Reagan veto. Still Yeutter is not being pol Yannish when he says the climate has improved that there is still concern and perplexity but not the hostility and animus there the administration is taking a harder stance with the other countries in a dozen or More specific Trade disputes. And the 30 percent decline in the value of the Dollar relative to other major currencies has improved the american competitive position. It has not had dramatic or even visible effects on Trade balances As yet. The 1985 Trade deficit was by far the worst in history. But Many experts Back Yeutter s View that the effects will show up in some instances later this year and dramatically in 1987. Yeutter thinks some of the numbers will be moving in the right direction by this that would be a real Relief to republicans running for re election. His surmise is that imports will begin to Slacken first As More and More foreign manufacturers follow the Japa Nese car makers in raising prices to reflect the readjusted ratio Between the yen and the Dollar. . Exports will increase More slowly Yeutter said because american Farmers will still have to compete in a world Market glutted by surplus crops and Many manufacturers and businesses were burned so badly in their exports in recent years of inflated dollars that they will be hesitant to go Back into overseas markets. But As the United states becomes More competitive protectionist fevers should ebb and that will be a break for everyone. Aquino attempts to defuse philippine insurgency my god did you hear that Corazon Aquino just let four communist guerrilla leaders out of prison the questioner was one of the Many americans who for months have expressed fears that the United states had to go along with the thieving murderous regime of presi Dent Ferdinand Marcos because the alternative would probably be communist the Man who made the above comment to me already has ghastly visions of the russian military which moved into the base the United states built at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam taking Over the . Military installations at Subic Bay and Clark Field in the Philippines. Fear of communism produces some simplistic and self defeating notions on the part of americans. We Don t lock up . Citizens just because they Are communists marxists libertarians new rightists socialists or Politi Cal enemies but we condone even urge such practices by dictators in countries we think of As important to America s political Freedom is supposed to be Good for us and Safe for America but bad and dangerous for filipinos South koreans South africans and others. Aquino and her allies know that they face a very dangerous and troubling communist insurgency and that the task of National reconciliation is going to test every skill that they can bring to government. There already Are Sharp disagreements with in the Aquino government As there Are bound to be among any newly free people. I am sure that among the military Lead ers who helped to Force Marcos into exile Are Many who doubt the widsom of freeing Jose Maria Sison the founder and former head of the philippine communist party or allowing a leftist exile like Chito Santaro Mana to come Home from China. But Aquino seems to have concluded that these men in themselves Are not As much a threat to her and her country As Are the workers and peasants whose support the jailed guerrillas were gaining because incarceration and exile made them suffering heroic foes of a despot. South Africa s apartheid regime finally has concluded that Black Leader Nelson Mandela is a More powerful adversary be Hind bars than he might have been if left in the streets of that country but the Lead ers now Haven t the Freedom to rectify an error Freedom that Aquino has because she is not the one who locked up hundreds of political prisoners. Aquino knows that the insurgency has been supported by thousands of hungry and hopeless filipinos who can t read anything let alone Marx Lenin Mao or Gorbachev. She knows that Marcos s brutality his rape of the country s resources caused an awful lot of roman Catholic priests and nuns not Only to sympathize with the communist party but to help the new people s army its military Wing. Winning Back desperate Farmers and workers and gaining the respect of once outraged priests and nuns is a lot More important to Aquino and her new government than keeping four former guerrilla leaders in jail. The Shah of iran was late in learning that for every political prisoner he jailed and or tortured he made scores of bitter enemies who were related to or knew that prisoner. In re leasing More than 400 political prisoners Aquino has made friends of those who might otherwise have remained venomous foes. Obviously there is no guarantee that her strategy will totally disarm the insurgents. The soviet Union which was kissing up to Marcos until the moment his ship of exile left the Airport is not Likely to Stop stirring Trou bled Waters. But we americans especially ought to assume that Aquino has a greater interest in establishing a peaceful and Prosper Ous Philippines than we could Ever have. This Brave new Leader is entitled to do her thing without being burdened by kibitzing from americans whose judgments Are flawed by never ending fears that the commies Are c 1986 news America Syndicate
