I am concerned by the bum rap being handed multinational corporations by many in the USA. In my career I have had to handle lots of complaints and resistance to American companies operating in other countries and indeed was the managing director of one. I know the role they play in promoting a more integrated world economy.

It may be hard to believe that as a US diplomat promoting trade and investment in the world I was by regulation forbidden to promote or assist American companies establishing subsidiaries or other new ventures in foreign countries until President Reagan changed the rules. Prior to that my assistance to American operations abroad was limited to helping to resolve disputes and insure equal treatment under the local laws.

One exception to the rules was to assist comanies investing in developing countries. Under this exception I organized the largest American investment mission ever held in Turkey.

Following the lifting of the ban on US government assistance to American investment abroad I did several things to promote these ventures. I wrote the letter from our Ambassador to the Finnish government that opened the door to the first American bank, Citibank, to open its doors in that country. It was quickly followed by several other US banks. I wrote the letter that allowed the first American insurance company to operate as a Spanish subsidiary in Spain. This was also quickly followed by other US firms who wound up investing over a billion dollars in Spain.

In another instance, I was asked to review the Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 before being submitted to the Senate for ratification. Beside my general observation that the bill had no real bite since it excluded our vital imports from South Africa, I noted that the Act ran contrary to our official policy. I explained that our official policy included assisting business owned by those disadvantaged by apartheid. The Act banned any new US investment in South Africa. I then asked how can we assist disadvantaged enterprise if we could not invest in them? I was then instructed to rewrite the Act to solve this problem and I added to the clause banning new US investment the phrase, “..except for investment in enterprise owned by those disadvantaged by apartheid.”

My reward for my contribution to the Act was to be sent to South Africa to enforce the Act, follow US investment in the country and assist enterprise owned by those disadvantaged by apartheid, i.e. black owned companies, including finding US partners for these companies. In this latter regard I worked directly with the first group of disadvantaged South African business owners to conduct an investment mission to the USA where they sought American business partners.

I know multinational companies and their contribution to producing the more “globalized” economy that has been the only real assistance to improving the economic well being of less developed countries - China, India, Taiwan, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, and South Africa to name a few. These countries have not become “emerging” nations via official devlopment aid but by integrating their economies into the “global” economy.

Instead of beating up on these major actors in improving the well being of millions of people, we should recognize their contribution and consider their misteps in the light of this contribution.