FOREIGN TRADE: Secret Weapon

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FOREIGN TRADE Secret Weapon "I am convinced that we can win the cold war by means of a secret weapon all our own. That secret weapon is trade—trade under our system of capitalism and competitive enterprise—accompanied by capital investment and technical aid in undeveloped countries." So said Benjamin F. Fairless, onetime U.S. Steel boss and now president of the American Iron and Steel Institute. Fairless' words last week, spoken after an 18-nation tour as chairman of a seven-man presidential advisory group, were not lost on his audience: 2,500 top U.S. businessmen assembled in

Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria for the 44th annual convention of the National Foreign Trade Council.

The nonpolitical council, whose corporate members range from huge General Motors to small Insular Lumber Co., called for an increased flow of private U.S. capital abroad, more lending authority for the Government's Export-Import Bank. It also put itself squarely on the side of free trade in the coming congressional battle by protectionists to end President Eisenhower's tariff-cutting powers, which are up for renewal next June 30. Rather than revoke the powers, said the council, Congress should extend them "with adequate authority to safeguard vital interests of domestic American industries in line with the national interest."

Declared the council: "Now more than ever, the economic well-being and security of the U.S. and other free nations require a high and rising level of international trade. As regards the United States, a large volume of international trade serves to ensure the availability, on the most favorable terms, of strategic materials and other products essential to its military security and to the expanding requirements of its economy. It also provides broader outlets for the products of American farms and factories, and thus enhances the prosperity of our country."