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The most ominous developments of all took place last week in the secret sessions in the U.S. Capitol's elegant Room H208 (which has become known to some congressional staffers as "the tiger cage"). As clumps of industry and labor lobbyists waited outside, the House Ways and Means Committee put on a display of protectionist logrolling that would have done credit to the authors of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. What emerged was an inflationary, consumer-be-damned bill that could reverse the whole U.S.-led postwar movement toward freer trade.
Ways and Means Chairman Wilbur Mills, a backslid free trader, shrewdly senses the rise of protectionist sentiment among politically potent forces. The bill, which Mills expects to report out by month's end, would impose mandatory quotas on imports of foreign shoes and synthetic and wool textiles. Furthermore, it would force President Nixon to continue curbing oil imports by a quota system, rather than replace the quotas with a less restrictive tariff. The oil deal was wrapped up in eight minutes. Even that might be only the beginning. An omnibus provision authorizes the President to put quotas on any imported products that take as much as 15% of the U.S. market. If the provision becomes law, it could be used immediately to prevent many Americans from buying imported TV and phonograph sets, sheet glass, ceramic tile and leather gloves.
"Uncle Sucker." The surge of protectionism is a consequence of the nation's economic woes. Inflation has driven up prices of many U.S.-made products, leading manufacturers to clamor for barriers against imports. Rising unemployment has swung the A.F.L.-C.I.O. to the protectionist side; its lobbyists buttonholed Ways & Means members outside H208 last week to repeat time-worn restrictionist arguments. Sample from Union Lobbyist Liz Jaeger, who once championed free trade but is now campaigning for shoe quotas: "Shoes are vital for defense. An army has to have shoes to march on, doesn't it?" The A.F.L.-C.I.O. stand weighed heavily in the Ways & Means votes. Says New York Republican Congressman Barber Conable, a free trader: "It is awfully tempting when you can pick up labor votes on an issue like this."
The President is a self-proclaimed free trader, but last month he redeemed an ill-advised 1968 campaign promise by "reluctantly" backing textile quotas to help his Southern supporters. Other industries started calling for relief from import competition. Commerce Secretary Stans complained that the U.S. had become "Uncle Sucker" by lowering trade barriers while other nations kept them. Administration officials are horrified by the protectionist deluge that those comments provoked and are struggling to contain it.
Their prospects are not bright. House members have introduced 360 bills to impose quotas on imports as varied as mink, zinc, lead, electronics products, honey and strawberries. In the Senate, Indiana Democrat Vance Hartke is likely to press for mandatory quotas on foreign steel, and Western Senators probably will try to make the meat-import quotas still more restrictive. Even the most zealous supporters of free trade in Washington see little possibility of much modification in the bill.