Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 1580 - Anti-Apartheid Act Amendments of 1988

(House Rules)
(Dellums (D) California and 129 others)

If H.R. 1580 is presented to the President, his senior advisers would recommend that it be vetoed because the bill undermines the President's ability to conduct an effective foreign policy.

Serious negotiations are now underway, under United States auspices, to rid Angola and Namibia of all foreign forces and bring Namibia to independece under U.N. Security Resolution 435. New sanctions would jeopardize South Africa's continued participation in this promising diplomatic initiative.

H.R. 1580, which amends the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 by broadening the existing sanctions, would impede rather than advance the goal of promoting further change in South Africa. If the measures called for in H.R. 1580 are enacted, they would lead to increased unemployment of black South Africans and have a significant impact on the U.S. economy and American jobs without hastening the end of apartheid. The proposed legislation would (1) cut off U.S. exports to South Africa worth $1.13 billion in 1987; (2) force American business to sell their nearly $1 billion of direct investment in South Africa at fire-sale prices; and (3) cost the U.S. coal industry about $250 million. Moreover, the extraterritorial reach of the disinvestment requirement and of the multilateral measures to enforce sanctions would undermine our relations with our allies.

Finally, the Department of Justice advises that any prohibition on U.S. intelligence and military cooperation with South Africa unconstitutionally interferes with the President's exclusive authority to recognize foreign governments, to determine the nature and extent of diplomatic relations with them, and to act as commander-in-chief.