Abstract
The U.S.-Soviet trade relationship shifted in the 1980s from one where barriers were being thrown up to one where bridges are being rebuilt. The process seems likely to continue so long as overall relations between the superpowers improve. To what extent it will make a substantial difference in future trade flows is impossible to tell. Trade over the past 10 years has been both erratic and stagnant. As Table 4.1 shows, U.S. agricultural exports were volatile; other exports and imports failed to grow. If inflation is taken into account, the trends in all categories would be downward. There was a considerable increase in exports to the Soviet Union in 1988, but mostly in agricultural products. Not surprisingly, trade policies and relations underwent important changes in this decade. How and why they changed are the subjects of this chapter.
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Notes
For discussions of Soviet protectionist policies see Jerry F. Hough, Opening Up The Soviet Economy (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1988), pp. 9–12
Joan P. Zoeter, “U.S.S.R.: Hard Currency Trade and Payments”, in: U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Soviet Economy in the 1980’s: Problems and Prospects, Part 2 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1983), p. 495.
Hertha W. Heiss, “U.S.-Soviet Trade Trends”, in U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Gorbachev’s Economic Plans, vol. 2 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1987), p. 464
Remarks by Robert J. Dole, April 24, 1986, in Margaret Chapman, ed., Forum on U.S.-Soviet Trade Relations (Washington, D.C.: American Committee on U.S.-Soviet Relations, 1987), pp. 61–62.
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© 1991 Wiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschafsvergleiche (WIIW) / The Vienna Institute for Comparative Economic Studies
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Kaufman, R.F. (1991). U.S.-Soviet Trade Policy in the 1980s. In: Bertsch, G., Elliott-Gower, S. (eds) The Impact of Governments on East-West Economic Relations. Vienna Institute for Comparative Economic Studies . Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12419-0_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12419-0_5
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