Cartelization, Executive Sanction, and the Antitrust Laws: The Steel Import Case

• DOI: 10.1177/0003603X7301800408
• Published date: 01 December 1973
• Date: 01 December 1973
• Subject Matter: Article

CARTELIZATION.

EXECUTIVE

SANCTION.

AND

THE

ANTITRUST

LAWS:

THE

STEEL

IMPORT

CASE

EDITOR'S

NOTE:

Problems as to the relation between the anti-

trust laws and the power of the President to foster restraints

of international trade by Executive action have been brought

to focus in a pending private suit, now on appeal to the

Supreme Court. Since the issues are important and the

docu-

ments that raise them are not rw,dily available, relevant

excerpts from these documents are set forth below. Comment

about these excerpts is limited to what appears to be needed

to show their connection and make them intelligible. Ap-

praisal of the issues has been avoided.-C.D.E.

1. (a) On May 6, 1972, the press

office

of the White

House released a statement by the President, which is repro-

duced in

full:

I am pleased to announce that the steel producers of

Japan, the European Community and the United King-

dom have expressed their intention to restrain on a

voluntary basis their exports of steel mill products to

the United States during the next three years.

This

welcome

development-which will lead to the

preservation of jobs in our domestic steel

industry-

successfully concludes more than a year of discussions.

For

some time, I have been deeply concerned about the

serious problem

that

excessive imports have posed for

our steel workers and our steel industry. Consequently,

Idirected that efforts be made to limit the impact of

steel imports.

The Deputy Under Secretary of State for Economic

Affairs, Nathaniel Samuels, undertook discussions with

the Japanese and European steel producers with respeet

to their

renewal-on

improved

terms-of

the voluntary

restraints on steel exports.

853

854

THE

ANTITRUST

BULLETIN

After

more than ayear's effort, Mr. Samuels has suc-

ceeded in this important endeavor. The Secretary of

State

has advised me

that

he has received communica-

tions from the steel producers in these countries in which

they pledge athree-year

restraint-with

improved

terms-of

their voluntary limits on their steel exports

to the United States.

This undertaking represents asubstantial improvement

over the arrangements of the

last

three years and will

enable domestic steel producers to make their plans with

confidence

that

imports will not be disruptive in the

domestic market.

It

will help preserve the jobs of Amer-

ican steel workers.

I am especially pleased

that

this undertaking was

reached on a voluntary basis. Such statesman-like coop-

eration is vital to

our

mutual efforts to build a more

equitable

and

a more progressive system of international

trading

arrangements.

(b)

The

content of the program for reduced

imports

of

steel was described

in

a

further

release

by

the

press

office on

the same date, as follows:

The

President

has been advised by the Secretary of

State

that

the Secretary has received communications

from the steel producers of

Japan,

the

European

Com-

munity

and

the United Kingdom expressing their intent

to

restrain

exports of steel mill products, on a voluntary

basis, to the United

States

during

the next three years.

Voluntary export

restraints

were initially undertaken by

European

and

Japanese

producers in 1969,

and

arevised

extension has been the subject of discussions over the

past

year

between Deputy Under

Secretary

of

State

for

Economic Affairs, Nathaniel Samuels,

and

representa-

tives of the

Japanese

and

European

steel producers. The

producers of the United Kingdom, which did

not

partici-

pate in the earlier voluntary

restraint

have joined Euro-

pean Community producers in the new undertaking.