Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyze the anti-export policy of the U.S. Congress and successive administrations, which have paid lip service to promoting exports while actually inhibiting them with laws and regulations. The article discusses such measures as, the Sherman Antitrust Act; the Webb-Pomerene Act; the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; the anti boycott legislation incorporated in the Export Act; the phasing out of tax incentives originally intended to encourage exports; the restrictions imposed on the Export-Import Bank; the imposition of the U.S. environmental standards overseas; the stringent controls imposed on high-technology exports; and the recent government actions to revitalize exports. The U.S. government has given lower priority to exports than to such issues as antitrust enforcement, corporate corruption, the Arab boycott of Israel, tax reform, human rights, the environment, and rivalry with Communism. Even the Export-Import Bank, the oldest and probably the most effective government aid to exporters, has increasingly been hobbled by restrictions on its lending, reflecting public concern over other issues and disregard of the impact on exporters.