The Nation - News from May 2, 1988

Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III sketched the conditions under which President Reagan might sign a stripped-down version of the landmark trade bill he is expected to veto. Against a backdrop of election-year politicking, Baker, interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said Congress, which approved the bill last week, would have to remove two provisions--a requirement that plants give workers 60 days’ notice of closings or layoffs and restrictions on exports of Alaskan oil--before Reagan would sign a follow-on bill. Baker said that the plant-closing provision “will not create one job. It will not do anything to open markets abroad.”