January 21, 1991

As Canadians grouse about a new tax that adds 7 percent to the price of newspapers, haircuts, clothing and just about everything else they buy, businesses on the American side of the border are fretting about the implications of the tax on their trade with Canada. Each country is the other's biggest customer, and they have a two-year-old free-trade pact that is progressively lowering tariffs to stimulate trade and economic growth. But Canada's Goods and Services Tax, which went into effect on Jan. 1, alters the terms of trade in Canada's favor.

To amplify Rolling Stone magazine's fabled advertising campaign, perception is often far more important than reality when it comes to selling ads. The latest beneficiary of this marketing wisdom could be the Cable News Network, whose dramatic coverage of the Persian Gulf war has been praised by everyone from Tom Brokaw to Tariq Aziz. But CNN has two strikes against it: the cable network is part of a medium still dominated by broadcasting, and its average daily ratings are still very low in a business enamored of numbers. So even as they basked in the glow of the world's praise last week, CNN's sales executives faced a troubling question: Will the enhanced prestige of the 24-hour-a-day television news service translate into new advertising revenue?

Against the backdrop of war, the top economic policy makers from the United States and its six main industrial allies gathered in New York yesterday for a two-day assessment of the world economy. The date of the meeting was set weeks ago to give the finance ministers and chief central bankers from the Group of Seven countries a chance at the start of the year to review a variety of financial and monetary issues. But the ministers agreed that those matters would now be overshadowed by the war. 'Not an Emergency Meeting' "This is not an emergency meeting," a Bush Administration official emphasized. But he added, "The events in the gulf are of course going to be a very important part of the discussions." Michael H. Wilson, the Finance Minister of Canada, said, "Expectations for various economies, particularly with regard to the impact of the hostilities in the gulf -- that's the key."

Iraq launched repeated barrages of missiles toward Saudi Arabia on Sunday night and early this morning, but American missiles fired from the big allied air base here and from Riyadh, the capital, knocked most or all of them from the sky before they could hit their targets. The American command in Riyadh, which is 270 miles from Iraq, initially said that all the missiles targeted on that city were "believed to be destroyed," but changed that in a briefing early this morning to say that one of the Scud surface-to-surface missiles had crashed harmlessly into the sea.

On the last play of an intense game today, the Giants got to the Super Bowl. In a spectacular finish to an already spectacular fourth quarter, Matt Bahr's 42-yard field goal with no time remaining gave them a 15-13 upset victory over the 49ers. The victory put the Giants in Super Bowl XXV next Sunday in Tampa, Fla., against the Buffalo Bills. The Bills got there earlier in the day by routing the Los Angeles Raiders, 51-3, for the American Conference championship. On Dec. 15, the Bills beat the Giants, 17-13, at Giants Stadium.