Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.law From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: law Mon, Jul 20 1992 Date: Mon, 20 Jul 92 04:12:10 EDT Message-ID: 07-20 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update July 20, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network SYRUP IS LATEST TRADE BATTLE: Increasingly prickly trade relations between the USA and Canada may get even stickier as Vermont and Quebec maple syrup producers try to iron out a dispute over the provinces' exports to the USA. Vermont growers say the Canadian government is unfairly subsidizing Quebec producers who are selling their surpluses at below cost in the states. LEAHY APPEALS TO TRADE REP.: Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., raised the possibility of challenging subsidies on maple syrup under a section of the 3-year-old U.S.-Canada free trade agreement. He sent U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills a letter outlining producers' concerns. In Canada, officials are on the hot seat because of several trade cases with the USA, the public's distrust of trade agreements and a recession. BRITISH AIR, USAIR DEALING: British Airways is close to signing a deal that would give it a 25% stake in Arlington, Va.-based USAir, Britain's Sunday Telegraph reported. The newspaper said the stake would be worth about $150 million at current market prices. The deal would need U.S. regulatory approval. British Airways has been looking for a foothold in the U.S. domestic market. AMERICAN WEST HAS SHAKEUP: Edward Beauvais left American West Airlines Friday, resigning as chairman of the airline currently under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Beauvais, who was replaced by Michael Conway, will retain his posts as CEO and president of the carrier. Beauvais said he hopes his resignation will improve the Phoenix-based firm's chances of emerging from Chapter 11. AIRBUS INDUSTRIE RESTRICTED: The United States and the European Community signed an agreement Friday that limits European government subsidies to Airbus Industrie. The USA's McDonnell Douglas and Boeing complained the subsidies gave Paris-based Airbus unfair advantage. The agreement prohibits future production subsidies including sales and marketing assistance and sets a 33% ceiling on direct development subsidies. GREENSPAN FACES CONGRESS: Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan can expect tough questions Tuesday when he makes one of his twice-yearly Humphrey-Hawkins reports to Congress. Members of Congress likely will grill Greenspan on why the Fed didn't move more quickly to cut interest rates - and whether, when it finally cut rates, it was caving in to election-year pressure from President Bush. JAPANESE COMPUTER USE VIEWED: The U.S. Business Software Association, made up of major software developers, will soon start investigating the use of U.S. software by major Japanese computer users to discourage illegal copying, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said. The association may file suits against Japanese copyright violators, the paper said. Japanese owned 1.96 million personal computers in 1991. HOUSE FACES POST OFFICE PROBE: Lawmakers may confront an embarrassment of their own: A report is due this week on the House post office scandal. The report from a bipartisan House task force is expected to say the independent mail system was rife with mismanagement and abuse of political patronage. UNITED APPEALS INJUNCTION: United Airlines appealed a court injunction that prevents it from opening a flight attendant base in Paris, the airline said Friday. A hearing is scheduled for Monday. The union representing flight attendants won a preliminary injunction against the base Thursday, and United took its case to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. SAVANNAH RIVER GAS INVESTIGATED: Federal health officials are trying to determine the dosage and effect on humans of radioactive tritium gas routinely released in the 1950s from the Savannah River nuclear weapons plant in Aiken, S.C. The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, citing a U.S. Department of Energy report, said workers stored the gas and released it when weather conditions aided quick dispersal. `ENTREPRENEURIAL WOMAN' FOLDS: "Entrepreneurial Woman", begun in 1990 to focus on women-owned business, is going out of business and the magazine's editor blames advertisers. The July:August issue now on newsstands will be the magazine's last monthly issue, says editor Rieva Lesonsky. Lesonsky said advertisers had a mental image of female entrepreneurs as Tupperware saleswomen and never took the magazine seriously. ITT, CAESARS WORLD TALKING: USA TODAY money columnist Dan Dorfman reports Monday that talk is continuing between ITT and Caesars World. Dorfman says ITT is looking hard at the hotel-casino operator because it wants to expand into gambling. Business Law Editor: Kate Coughlin. (919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM