Don't get mad, get even. That was the cry on Capitol Hill last week, as Congress considered retaliation against two foreign companies that illicitly sold to the Soviet Union important high-tech equipment used in building submarines and aircraft carriers. The targets looming in the congressional periscope: Toshiba Machine, which is 50.1% owned by the Japanese conglomerate Toshiba Corp., and Kongsberg Vapenfabrikk, a state-owned computer and weaponmaker in Norway. Several lawmakers even suggested that Toshiba and Kongsberg be barred from selling products in the American market. "I'm talking about retribution," said Republican Senator Jake Garn of Utah.
The uproar grew out of...