President Reagan said recent trade statistics show...

President Reagan said recent trade statistics show “a genuine boom in exports.” Top business leaders, meanwhile, worked to build support to sustain the President’s expected veto of a major trade bill. On the eve of that veto, Reagan told a group of manufacturing and export leaders in Washington: “I have no doubts that the Yankee trading spirit is alive and well.” Reagan said he was delighted with last week’s report showing that the trade deficit had dropped by $4 billion between February and March, mainly due to a 23% surge in U.S. sales abroad. Officials of the National Assn. of Manufacturers, meanwhile, predicted victory in their fight to block a provision in the trade legislation that would require companies with 100 or more employees to give 60-days’ notice of plant closings and large-scale layoffs.