House OKs Favored Trade Status for Hungary

The House on Thursday attempted to reward Hungary’s democratic reforms by voting to grant the Communist nation most-favored-nation status for three years.

The measure was adopted on a 221 to 169 roll-call vote despite Republican protests that it would hamper President Bush’s conduct of foreign policy. The bill’s prospects for passage in the Senate are considered good.

It would extend for three years U.S. government credits and loan guarantees and continue until 1992 the lower tariffs on imports from Hungary.

Hungary has enjoyed most-favored status since 1978 by presidential decrees. The House action thus was largely a symbolic reward for Hungary’s dramatic shift away from Soviet-influenced Communist rule and toward a Western-oriented economic and political system.

“There has been a historic surge toward freedom,” said California Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo), who was born in Budapest. “Americans should be rejoicing that our values are sweeping through Eastern Europe.”

But foes of the bill, such as Rep. Philip M. Crane (R-Ill.), argued that Hungary is still under Communist control and influenced by the Warsaw Pact. He added: “An open and democratic Hungary is a long way off.”

Passage of the bill came as Hungary hosted thousands of East German refugees who crossed the East German-Hungarian border in hopes of receiving asylum in West Germany. The decision to tear down barbed wire on Hungary’s border with Austria--literally tearing down the Iron Curtain--also figured in the House debate.

The symbolism of the action was diminished, however, by the sizable Republican-led opposition.

During a visit to Budapest last spring, Bush promised to grant Hungary permanent most-favored status--putting it on a par with nearly all of America’s other trading partners--if its Parliament approved a series of measures dealing with immigration and other reforms at a coming session.

Aside from Hungary, the only Communist governments to gain most-favored status have been Romania, from 1975 to 1988, and China, from 1980 to the present.

Although some members argued for continuing the annual presidential extensions of most-favored status to Hungary, most argued that the Hungarians deserve a reward that would encourage other East Bloc nations to follow their lead.