Trade: Mission Impossible

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Enough for Both. On his European mission, Secretary Stans will be accompanied by Lawyer Carl Gilbert, 63, former Gillette Co. chairman whom President Nixon last week appointed his Special Representative for Trade Negotiations. Gilbert, a strong free-trade advocate, is chairman of the Committee for a National Trade Policy, a private group that opposes high tariffs and import quotas. His appointment ended speculation that the President might shift control over trade policy to the Commerce Department, a possibility that had dismayed a number of business, labor and farm groups.

Whether Stans or Gilbert will have the stronger voice in trade negotiation's remains to be seen. Next month both men will fly to Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong to press the case for voluntary textile quotas. U.S. manufacturers consider those four the principal source of concern. Last year more than 62% of all synthetic-textile imports came from the Far East. Considering the precarious state of the overall U.S. trade surplus, which all but vanished in 1968, the nation faces enough problems to occupy both men.

As if to emphasize that fact, the Commerce Department last week warned that the nation's trade balance is unlikely to improve much over the next five years. Indeed, said Commerce's study, the balance may even slip into a deficit unless the Government takes stronger steps to boost exports.