Ex-Steel Firm Head Picked for Commerce Post

President Reagan said Monday that he will nominate C. William Verity Jr., the 70-year-old former chairman of an Ohio steel company, to succeed the late Malcolm Baldrige as secretary of commerce.

In brief remarks at a White House news conference, Reagan said that he expects Verity to pursue both the Administration’s free trade policies and its efforts “to keep vital technology from falling into the hands of our adversaries,” primarily the Soviet Union.

Verity told Reagan at Monday’s introductory session that “all the specifics you mentioned, I endorse,” although, as head of Armco Inc., a Middletown, Ohio, diversified steel producer, he was known as an effective advocate of trade protection for the steel industry and later as a supporter of greater trade with the Soviets.

Verity refused to comment further until his confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee this fall.

Reagan also sidestepped reporters’ queries, saying: “There are questions, but no answers.” The President has not had an open press conference since the economic summit meeting in Venice last June.

Facing Tough Job

In his prepared text, Reagan said that Verity faces a tough job in succeeding Baldrige, a widely respected free trade advocate who died July 25 in a riding accident. But, like Baldrige, he said, Verity “understands the importance of expanding international markets, maintaining our competitiveness and enhancing our export capability.”

He is being nominated amid a fierce White House lobbying effort, led by Baldrige until his death, to change a major trade bill now being pieced together in a House-Senate conference committee.

The most controversial provisions being considered by the committee would impose sanctions on Japan and other nations that run large trade surpluses with the United States and require U.S. businesses to give their employees advance notice of factory closings.

Baldrige had argued that the latter measure would unduly restrict American industries’ flexibility and the former would threaten the world trading system at a time when the U.S. trade balance is showing signs of recovery.

Verity said Monday that he is “happy to have this opportunity at what I think is a historic time in international trade, with the trade bill going through the various houses.” But his brief remarks focused largely on the need to make the United States more competitive in world markets.

In a 46-year career at Armco, a company founded by his grandfather, Verity transformed a small specialty-steel firm into a conglomerate with interests in steel, financial services and an array of industrial products. He retired as Armco chairman in 1982 but remained on the company’s board of directors until 1986.

Verity was known as an effective advocate of trade protection for the steel industry, arguing in speeches and interviews that the United States had allowed foreigners to “dump” excess steel on the U.S. market at below-cost prices. He contended also that the government had made domestic steelmakers uncompetitive by burdening them with costly anti-pollution rules and other regulations.

As Reagan entered the White House in 1981, Verity was completing a term as chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, calling for a balanced federal budget and increased defense spending--both leading Reagan priorities.

Reagan later named Verity to head the White House Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives, a 44-member panel that tried to offset federal cutbacks in social programs with volunteer efforts.

He is a former co-chairman of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade and Economic Council, a private group of U.S. and Soviet business leaders favoring greater trade between the two countries. In interviews, Verity has called for expanded economic ties between the two nations, saying that U.S. bans on trading with the Soviets merely deprive American firms of business that the Soviets take to other nations.