"To sell your products, you have to find some person at each company who is not afraid of retaliation" from the major steelmakers, Mr. Iketani said.

The announcement brings to 43,000 the number of jobs that the five major steelmakers are planning to drop - about 25 percent of their total work force.

An association of steel importers pitted itself against the nation's major steelmakers yesterday, calling for the Government to modify the program that limits steel imports.

Yet neither the Big Three auto makers nor the major American steelmakers have a major research and development effort underway here.

The General Motors Corporation said yesterday that it had reached agreements with the nation's major steelmakers on new purchasing contracts.

It is the only major steelmaker in the United States that has not established a joint venture with a foreign steel producer.

He resumed coordinated bargaining with the major steelmakers, and established separate bargaining councils for aluminum and other metals industries.

In recent years, though, the United Steelworkers union has negotiated contracts with the major steelmakers that have given the companies more flexibility in assigning workers.

Yesterday, investors took flight because three major steelmakers are nearing the expiration of their labor contracts and there are no signs of anyagreements.

Bethlehem, like other major steelmakers, has benefited from increased demand and higher steel prices in the last few months.