BONN, Sept. 11 -- U.S. diplomatic efforts to enlist German help in pursuing democratic reform in Cuba received a lukewarm response Wednesday. Economics Minister Guenter Rexrodt, who met with President Bill Clinton's special representative for the promotion of democracy in Cuba, said Washington's threats of extraterritorial sanctions against non-U.S. firms were the wrong way to promote democratization. U.S. Secretary of State for Commerce Stuart Eizenstat acknowledged he encountered strong opposition from both politicians and business groups to the Helms-Burton Act, but warned that attempts to take legal action risked a U.S.-Europe trade war.
Eizenstat said his mission was to find areas where European Union countries could cooperate with the United States to bring reform and democracy to Cuba and to explain that only companies dealing in confiscated U.S. property were subject to penalties. He spelled out a series of possible measures which governments, non- governmental organizations and private businesses could take in Cuba to bypass President Fidel Castro's regime, to ensure that any money they invest goes directly to organizations where its use is clear and accountable. Eizenstat said companies should act according to principles that were effective in demolishing apartheid in South Africa. He said he warned the European Union against challenging U.S. action under the rules of the World Trade Organization. He said this would be a 'lose-lose option' with the likelihood of escalating trade measures.
