Business Notes TRADE

In the frigid climate of the cold war, the U.S. and its allies barred their companies from selling high-tech wares with potential military use to the Soviet Union and the nations of Eastern Europe. But the current thaw prompted the Bush Administration last week to propose a relaxation of export controls on 43 of the 120 types of restricted products. Among them: personal computers, precision machine tools and telecommunications equipment.

The U.S. will present the plan next month to fellow members of the Coordinating Committee on Multilateral Export Controls. Some U.S. business leaders and politicians argued that the Administration's proposal covered too few products. Said Sam Gejdenson of Connecticut, chairman of the House Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade: "It is in the interest of the U.S. to provide advanced technology to the countries of Eastern Europe. The President's proposals don't begin to meet the need."