Evening star., 1949-11-04
U. S. Orders Rigid Export Curbs
To Bar Reship pments to Russia;
All World But Canada Affected
Commerce Department
Tightens Control
Of Strategic Goods
BY the Associated Press

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controls on shipment Of strategic
goods to practically the whole
world today to prevent re-ship-
ments to the Soviet bloc.
Communist China and Latin
America particularly were covered
by the new rules issued by the
Commerce Department.
Officials told a reporter the
step was taken more with the idea
Of averting future re-shipment
difficulties than because of any
great current traffic in re-ship-
ments to an-dominated areas.
Hitherto the department has
applied these rigid controls only
to Europe and adjacent areas,
mostly along the southern rim OF
the Mediterranean.
Canada Alone Excepted.
The new action extends the
control powers to exports to any
place in the world except Canada,
which has always been in a rel
atively control-free class of its
own, even in wartime.
BY strategic goods, the depart
ment means for the most part in
dustrial items that might con-
tribute to war potential" Of the
Soviet.
Export Of military materials is
rigidly controlled, too, but licenses
for these are handled by the State
Department.
The Commerce Department
handles export licenses for goods
covered by today's new rules.
This gives it a chance to
screen" proposed shipments.
Thus it can deny shipment privil-
eges where it suspects goods, ap-
parently destined for some non-
Russian area, are in fact to be
reshipped to Soviet-dominated
regions.
Direct shipments Of strategic
items to the Soviet Union have
been under virtual ban since
March, 1948.
In announcing the control ex-
tension, the department also
streamlined its list Of commodities
covered by the controls. The aim
is to end licensing for goods now
considered non-strategic and also
''in plentiful domestic supply"
It put approximately 100 classes
of commodities under the world
wide license controls while stimuli
taneously dropping so other class
es Of goods from the license re-
quirements formerly applied to
Europe. The so dropped groups
now may be shipped without Ii
cense "in any quantity and to any
destination"
Banned Products Listed.
The commodity groups desig-
mated strategic and banned from
shipment except by license in
clude:
Special types of puncture-seal
truck and bus tires and tubes, re-
fined industrial lubricating oils,
crude asbestos and f1bers, un-
manufactured mica, certain iron
and steel mill products, some
copper and bronze products, elec-
trical generators, transmission
and distribution apparatus, large
electrical motors, accessories and
parts, X-ray apparatus, many
power-d driven metal working ma
chine tools and parts, mining and
Quarrying machinery and oil field
and refining equipment.
Communist China could have
received any of these goods-with
the exception of a few held under
worldwide control because of
shortages in this country-under
the previous requirements.
Officials said actually there
have been few shipments of any
goods to Red China. This may
merely have reflected disruption
OF trade with that civil war-torn
country.
The goods dropped entirely from
license controls, no matter where
shipped, include:
Optical glass, glass fiber and
products; pottery, several asbestos
products and some abrasives; in
dustrial conversion oil burners and
oil-fired boilers, bauxite and other
aluminium ores, platinum ore, con-
centrates, bars, ingots, sheets, wire,
alloys and scrap, portable electrical
tools and several types of electrical
apparatus.
Practically the only goods under
worldwide controls, except in the
case Of shipments to Canada, were
nine classes of refined oils.