A professor of international finance declared here yesterday that the record since the Yom Kippur War shows that American firms would not lose business in the Arab world if they refused to comply with the Arab boycott and its various discriminatory practices.
Prof. Peter B. Kenen, of Princeton, noted that the United States and The Netherlands, both “special targets of the 1973 Arab oil embargo,” increased their exports to the Mideast in 1974 and 1975 “while France, its pro-Arab policies notwithstanding, had fallen behind.”
Kenen, one of three experts speaking at a press conference arranged by the American Jewish Committee, said that “pragmatism marks most of the Arabs’ business dealings” and noted that the Arab states are apparently ready to evade their own boycott rules when they need American goods.
Daniel Shapiro, chairman of the AJCommittee’s Task Force on Arab Economic Warfare, said that “If the American people and Congress, as they should, find corporate kickbacks and bribery and special favoritism unacceptable even if it means some business deals are frustrated, we believe they must also find discrimination against Jewish companies. Jewish professionals and Jewish subcontractors equally unacceptable.”
Dr. Jesse N. Hordes, executive director of the Research Project on Energy and Economic Policy, accused the Ford Administration of opposing Congressional efforts to strengthen anti-boycott legislation.
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