Gorbachev Urges Revival of U.S. Trade
Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev today appealed for a revival of U.S.-Soviet trade as a key factor in stabilizing superpower relations and preserving peace.
In a televised speech at a Kremlin banquet in honor of visiting Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige, Gorbachev said the obstacles to increased trade were political, not economic, and were imposed by the United States.
The Kremlin leader attacked U.S. controls on the export of high-technology goods to the Soviet Union and said the idea that Soviet military potential depended on Western technology was “complete nonsense.”
Earlier, Gorbachev met privately with Baldrige, underlining the importance the Soviets have given a post-summit trade conference here with 400 Americans.
The meeting came on the second day of the ninth session of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade and Economic Council, a three-day conference that has drawn a record number of participants.
A two-sentence report by the news agency Tass said only that “a conversation was started” between Gorbachev and Baldrige.
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