Japanese company denies violating Reagan embargo

A Japanese steelmaker said its shipment last month of pipe valves to the Soviet Union for the trans-Siberian pipeline does not violate President Reagan's pipeline embargo because no transfer of US technology was involved.

A Japan Steel Works Ltd. spokesman said the licensing agreement with Grove Valve & Regulator Company in Oakland, Calif., expired in 1979, and since then the company has manufactured the products with its own technology.

In London, US Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger said the US pipeline sanctions were not meant to harm relations with its European allies.