Word: soviet
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...favored-nation status (MFN), whereby a foreign country is able to export goods to the U.S. at much lower tariff rates. Actually, MFN is a misnomer, since over 95% of the U.S.'s trading partners enjoy that status. Only a handful of Communist countries, including China and the Soviet Union, face discriminatory tariffs that in some cases are double. The Soviet Union is barred from MFN by the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the 1974 trade bill, which links commercial opportunities for Communist governments to their policies of permitting emigration of their citizens. Before diplomatic recognition on Jan. 1, China...
Both Moscow and Peking want MFN, along with U.S. export credits, in order to have freer access to American markets and to attract American investment. MFN could increase Soviet-American trade by an estimated 10%, and Sino-American trade still more. U.S. business generally supports trade preferences for both the Soviet Union and China, but Capitol Hill is in no mood to do Moscow any favors, given what many legislators see as Soviet mischief-making in Africa, the Middle East and Indochina. As for human rights, the number of people being allowed to emigrate from the Soviet Union...
...largely because of the groundswell of anti-Soviet feeling, Peking may have more friends on Capitol Hill these days than Moscow. Moreover, many legislators, like the Chinese, do not share the Administration's determination to protect SALT. The Peking leadership sees SALT as a trap into which the Soviets have lured the U.S. The principal sponsor of the 1974 amendment linking trade with emigration was Henry Jackson, who also happens to be both the leading opponent of SALT and proponent of closer ties with China. Thus the Administration faces the disagreeable possibility that Congress, skillfully lobbied by the Chinese...
...twelfth-story law office. The window beside his desk frames the White House, the Washington Monument and a spectacular panorama of the Potomac River valley as far as Mount Vernon. The scene haunts him these days as agreement nears on the new strategic arms treaty with the Soviet Union, and America prepares to debate the issue. Rejection in the Senate would heighten tension and accelerate the arms race, Warnke believes. Acceptance would renew hope that nuclear weapons could ultimately be reduced and more tightly controlled...
Warnke can argue the numbers of missiles and nuclear warheads. He sees the U.S. as the overall equal to the Soviet Union, though the two have a different mix of weapons. He has little doubt that without the treaty both nations would be forced to arm faster. But a compelling part of his message has nothing to do with hardware and dollar signs. It is, finally, the human assessment of those men who guide the Soviet Union. With inoculations of suspicion and skepticism, Warnke has approached what he regards as a moment of truth. Though the Soviets remain unruly...