U.S. industry also chafes at export restrictions.

• Position: Defense

Here's something you might not have expected to find on the U.S. munitions list: toilets.

But along with missile-guidance systems, night vision goggles, torpedoes, tanks, radars and nuclear warheads, the State Department requires a special license to export toilets if they are to be installed in military aircraft.

Zodiac of North America, the company that makes inflatable boats used by U.S. Marines, SEALs and special forces, found out the hard way.

The company also makes the kind of toilets that are installed in commercial airliners, said Jean-Jacques Marie, Zodiac's president. But when Zodiac attempted to sell some overseas for use on military planes, the company learned it would need the same State Department approval as if it were selling bombsights.

Marie recounted his company's experience during a gathering of U.S. and European business executives and government officials at The European Institute's Transatlantic Roundtable on Defense and Security in May at which participants complained about restrictions they said hurt defense companies and keep the U.S. military from working efficiently with their allies ...

For Britain's BAE...