The Case for Free Trade

Of all the members of the U.S. Congress, not even Senator Joe McCarthy is better known among Venezuelans than Representative Richard Simpson, Pennsylvania Republican. Simpson is the author of a bill to cut U.S. imports of foreign oil; Venezuelans estimate that it would cost them $340 million a year. Cheered on by small U.S. oil producers and coal interests, Simpson maneuvered his bill to a vote last year, only to have it sent back to committee. There it rests, grating harshly on Venezuelan nerve ends.

In Manhattan last week, the Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.* presented its case against the Simpson bill. It published a 115-page study contending that Venezuela's openhanded spending of her oil-earned wealth in the U.S. benefits the U.S. as a whole, and thus (the study implies) outweighs the cost of any localized stresses. Conceding its own self-interest, the chamber argued that Venezuela is the U.S.'s second-best Latin American customer (after Mexico), buying $503 million worth of U.S. goods a year. Mailed out by the thousands, the report aims to demonstrate their stake in Venezuelan trade to 450 U.S. cities from Gloucester, Mass, (glue) to San Gabriel, Calif, (adding machines). Presumably the authors hope that these communities will put pressure on their Congressmen to vote against the Simpson bill if it comes to the floor again.

The report simply made the classic case for free trade, even showing how towns in Simpson's own 18th Pennsylvania Congressional District profit from dealing with Venezuela. Said Simpson: "I know that exports to Venezuela of firebrick from Mt. Union and machinery from Waynesboro are important, but they are by no means vital--just gravy . . . For every Venezuelan who buys a refrigerator, I can show you five or six Americans who are on unemployment relief and can't afford to buy one."

* An organization of 300 U.S. firms and individuals who do business with Venezuela. Its president, Lloyd G. Smith, is a vice president of Venezuela's biggest oil producer, Creole Petroleum Corp., an affiliate of Standard Oil of New Jersey.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.