White House spokesman MarlinFitzwater said that comments made in congressional testimony by
Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter do not reflect the
government's position.
    Yeutter was questioned about the dollar during testimony to
the Senate Finance Committee. 
    Fitzwater said in a statement Yeutter's comments were in
response to a hypothetical question "and do not reflect the
government's position."
    "I want to emphasize that only the president and the
secretray of the treasury are authorized to comment on the
dollar," the spokesman said.
    Yeutter, asked whether the U.S. trade deficit would improve
more if the value of the dollar dropped further, replied, "That
should be a mathematical truism." But he added that markets are
more complicated than that.
    He said he expected the current decline in the dollar to
show up soon in the decline in the value of imports.
 Reuter
