ITAR: American Subsidy Against American Competition

Worcester, Mass, May 10: Libertarian Presidential candidate George
Phillies today condemned ITAR (International Traffic in Arms
Regulations) export restrictions as «a highly effective American
subsidy for foreign manufacturers,» and said they should be repealed.

«ITAR makes sense if you believe that America has a monopoly on
high-tech engineering and research,» Phillies said, «and if you
believe that foreigners are not smart enough to solve problems until
told the

answers. Indeed, under ITAR an American may come into violation of
the ‘deemed export’ rule simply by saying the wrong thing to a
foreigner.»

«Foreigners are as smart as we are,» Phillies said. «The result of
ITAR is that foreigners are highly motivated to replace American
high-tech products with foreign equivalents. For example, in 2005
French firm EADS Sodern dropped their American star tracker
components, in favor of European equivalents. They did this because
they were building components for a satellite, the Apstar 6, for Red
China, and Americancomponents could not be used.»

«What were the results? The Chinese got the same access to the
technology. European research got extra investment. The French are
replacing their American-component star tracker with an all-European

unit. American small business has been shut out of the market.
Permanently.»

«Then there is massive waste to satisfy the letter of the law,»
Phillies continued. «The wonderful Boeing 787 is built from ‘black
aluminum’–carbon composites. The same material is used in the B-2
bomber. Twenty years ago, B-2 research showed how long you could
store certain materials. Before the 787 could use those materials,
Boeing had to repeat the research, not to learn something new, but to
be able to prove that their knowledge didn’t come from a military
program. That’s a total waste of investors’ money.

«Like most bad government programs, ITAR is completely out of
control. Thanks to ITAR, some American manufacturers don’t have to
fear terrorist attacks on their foreign sales. ITAR means they don’t
have them in the first place, because it’s easier to buy from Europe.
The Libertarian solution: Let free trade work. Repeal the law.»