Lawmakers Tie Soviet Trade to Lithuania

Congressional leaders told President Bush today that Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev must lighten up on Lithuania if he expects Congress to go along with trade benefits to Moscow.

“Call it linkage or call it reality,” Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) said after Bush briefed top House and Senate leaders on his private conversations with Gorbachev during the summit.

Lawmakers said Bush told them that he had received no assurances from Gorbachev, even in private, that the Soviet Union will lift its economic boycott of the rebellious Baltic state.

House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) said Bush “made it very clear” that he had presented a strong case to Gorbachev for easing up in Lithuania.

“When the President sends us the trade agreement . . . there will be many in Congress who will want to see some progress on Lithuania before approving it,” Foley said. “I asked the President if he thought President Gorbachev understood there might be such reaction from Congress; he said he did.”

“I’m not going to assess whether his pressing (Gorbachev) was adequate or not,” Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) said. “He said he made the case.”

But, the Senate leader said, nothing the President said made him feel any more optimistic that a Lithuanian settlement was near.

Dole said Bush told lawmakers at the 45-minute session that “he felt comfortable with Gorbachev, that they could speak with complete candor and without rancor.”

Presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that, despite the lack of a commitment from Gorbachev on Lithuania, “the President is persuaded that he (Gorbachev) wants to resolve the issue.”

At the same time, Bush is mindful of congressional sentiment against granting the benefits to Moscow in absence of progress on Lithuania.

Meanwhile, Fitzwater said that Bush continued the process of conferring with allied leaders that he began on Sunday, calling Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu Monday night and French President Francois Mitterrand this morning.

The spokesman said Gorbachev’s aircraft, as it cleared U.S. airspace at 10:39 p.m. PDT Monday, beamed a message to the White House hailing the fruits of the summit and relaying the Soviet leader’s “sincere gratitude.”