Citing cost of import bars, US study asks freer trade

Restrictions on imports of citizen band radios, color TV sets, textiles, shoes, and sugar are costing American consumers $2 billion in higher prices every year, a Federal Trade Commission study said Thursday. The report suggested the country should move toward a "free-trade economy." In that kind of atmosphere, it said, cheaper imports would be more readily available and the United States could concentrate on turning out only those products that can be made cheaply here.

The study argues that the benefits of free trade outnumber even the cost of unemployment and the trade imbalance that could result.