U.S. TREASURY ANNOUNCES OECD TIED-AID PACT
U.S. Treasury Secretary James Baker
said an agreement has been reached by members of the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to
control the unfair trade practice of using tied aid to promote
trade.
    He said in a statement the agreement culminates the Reagan
administration's effot to negotiate a virtual end to export
credit subsidies.
    The practice of other governments using tied aid or mixed
credits to promote exports has cost the United States lost jobs
and lost exports, the Treasury said.
    The agreement to be implemented in two stages by July, 1988
would ban tied aid credit among industrialized countries and
place limits on permitted aid by developing countries.
    It would also reduce export credits that do not involve aid
and reduce credit subsidies permitted for relatively poor
countries, the Treasury said.
    Baker said the agreement imposes particular sacrifices on
Japan and praised Japan's willingness to accept the pact as a
demonstration of the Japanese government's willingness to take
concrete steps to resolve important trade issues.
 Reuter
