Quayle Lobbied Foreign Nations for U.S. Firms

During a trip to Asia this spring, Vice President Dan Quayle engaged in a practice U.S. presidents and vice presidents have traditionally shunned: He lobbied foreign government leaders on behalf of specific American companies.

While in Jakarta on May 1, Quayle at least twice brought up with senior Indonesian officials a pending effort by American Telephone & Telegraph to land a multimillion-dollar contract to manufacture telecommunications equipment in that country.

Later that same week, in Bangkok, the vice president twice raised with Thai Prime Minister Chatchai Choonhawan complaints by Guardian Industries, a Michigan-based company, that the Thai government was unfairly excluding the firm from producing glass in Thailand.

Foreign Competition

In each case, the private firm whose cause Quayle espoused had no American competition for the overseas projects and was vying for business against one or more foreign companies.

Spokesmen for the vice president and for the Commerce Department said that Quayle merely was doing what some foreign leaders--including British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and French President Francois Mitterrand--have long done: putting in a good word overseas for their nation’s industries.

“He wanted to go to bat for American business abroad,” said Quayle’s press spokesman, David Beckwith. “He merely mentioned these businesses. There wasn’t a lot of detail. He was sort of opening the door for them. . . .

“Other governments are doing it,” Beckwith continued. “They’re asserting diplomatic pressure to give their companies an advantage. Our goal is open markets, free of as much government interference as possible. Sometimes, it’s necessary to give a hand (overseas), either to open a market or to make sure American companies are treated fairly.”

Several experts from previous U.S. administrations said that they knew of no instance in recent times in which an American president or vice president had spoken up for a specific private company during meetings with foreign leaders.

Some of them questioned the propriety of Quayle’s actions, saying that they raised questions about how far a senior official should go on behalf of individual firms and how he should choose which companies deserve his help.

“I’ve never heard of anything like that under any Administration,” said Richard Moe, who served as a White House aide to former Vice President Walter F. Mondale. “I can see pushing American products and technology in general, but not specific companies. How do you decide which companies to push?”

“If you’re talking about the president or the vice president, absolutely not, not during the Eisenhower or Nixon administrations,” said Stephen Ambrose, the Boyd Professor of History at the University of New Orleans who has researched the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations. “That’s absolutely unprecedented.”

Sets a Precedent

Paul H. Freedenberg, who served as President Ronald Reagan’s assistant secretary of commerce for trade, said that he, too, believes Quayle’s efforts on behalf of AT&T; and Guardian represent “a new precedent.” He said that he knew of no cases during the Reagan Administration of the President or vice president lobbying overseas for individual companies.

“In the past, this wasn’t done, for two reasons,” Freedenberg said. “First, the United States historically has had so many companies bidding in competition with one another that you wouldn’t want to favor one American company over another.

“Second, historically, it was just considered to be bad form. In general, it just wasn’t done. . . . I personally think this is a good thing. It’s a way of getting attention for U.S. companies at high levels. We’re running a $130-billion (foreign trade) deficit.”

Others said that they were bothered by the precedent Quayle was setting. “I just think as a general proposition that elected officials ought not to be endorsing specific companies,” said Alan Morrison of Public Citizen, a public interest law firm. “In these cases, maybe there was no way out of it. I don’t know.”

Bidding for Contract

AT&T;’s Network Systems International, a Netherlands-based joint venture, of which 65% is owned by AT&T; and the remainder by Dutch and Italian firms, is one of several companies bidding for a telecommunications-switching contract in Indonesia. U.S. officials estimate that Indonesia will spend about $440 million in the first phase of the contract and as much as $1.2 billion for the entire project.

AT&T;’s competitors in the Indonesian bidding include a Swedish firm, LM Ericcson, and two Japanese firms, NEC and Fujitsu. AT&T; is now seeking assistance from the Bush Administration, including a special low-interest loan to Indonesia from the U.S. Export-Import Bank and a possible grant to Indonesia from the U.S. Agency for International Development, to help the company get the contract.

On May 1, during a stop in Jakarta, the vice president met with a series of high-ranking Indonesian officials. One session was with State Minister for Research and Technology B.J. Habibie. Another was with Indonesian Vice President Sudharmono and Minister of Post and Telecommunications Soesilo Soedarman. The third was with a group of Indonesian economic and trade officials.

Beckwith and Assistant Secretary of Commerce Thomas Duestenberg, who accompanied Quayle on the trip, said that during at least two of these sessions, the vice president mentioned AT&T; and its hopes for the Indonesian contract.

Not Discussed With Suharto

Beckwith said he did not believe AT&T; came up during Quayle’s talks with Indonesian President Suharto that same day. “I think they talked (about) world politics,” he said.

An AT&T; spokesman declined to comment in any way on the company’s pending bid for the Indonesian contract.

Two days later, when Quayle arrived in Bangkok, he mentioned the problems of Guardian Industries to Prime Minister Chatchai.

Guardian is a partner in a joint venture called Siam Cement, which has been attempting to win permission to produce float glass in Thailand. For the last two decades, a Japanese-Thai venture called Asahi Glass has had a monopoly in this area.

According to U.S. officials, after Asahi heard of the potential competition from the American firm, the Japanese venture persuaded the Thai government to impose a freeze on further investment in glass production in the country.

‘No Good Economic Reason’

While in Bangkok, Duestenberg said, Quayle told the Thai prime minister that “for no good economic reason, the investment license (to Guardian) was denied.”

After reading a news story in the Bangkok Post about the controversy, Duestenberg said, Quayle brought up the Guardian Industries’ case with Chatchai a second time.

A spokesman for Guardian Industries said that the company will not comment on its venture in Thailand.

Commerce Department officials said that they would not exclude the possibility of President Bush plugging a particular American company someday during his overseas travels.

“I think there’s a change in emphasis,” said one Commerce Department official, who asked not to be identified. “Both the President and the vice president are willing to raise (commercial) issues in a way that might not have been done in the past.”

Wayne Berman, a top adviser to Secretary of Commerce Robert A. Mosbacher, acknowledged that once the word gets out that Quayle is willing to lobby for specific American companies on his overseas travels, there may be a long line of executives outside the vice president’s office.

Quayle probably won’t be able to put in a word with foreign leaders for large numbers of U.S. firms, said Berman. “The limits are mainly practical, I think.”

Asked whether Bush, too, might seek contracts for individual U.S. companies during his talks with foreign leaders, Berman replied: “We’d have to make sure it didn’t detract from the President’s primary agenda, whatever it might be. . . . We would be careful what recommendations we make (to Bush), because the President is the President.”