News In Brief

Reagan signs blanket bill bolstering free trade

President Reagan signed into law Tuesday a package of tariff and trade changes which he said avoids protectionism, protects free trade, and is ''the most important trade law passed by Congress in a decade.'' The comprehensive trade bill extends until 1993 tariff concessions to some 140 poorer countries and authorizes the President to negotiate with Israel the first full free-trade agreement between the United States and another nation.