Mission to Moscow

While John Connally was packing his briefcase for the Rome money meeting, Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans was in Moscow cultivating officials of the Soviet Union. The Administration hopes to raise the level of U.S.-Soviet trade to as much as $2 billion a year by the mid-1970s. Last year's turnover was only $190 million, or about the same as U.S. trade with Honduras.

The Soviets were giving careful attention to the Stans mission. Shortly after he landed in Moscow, the Secretary was whisked into the Kremlin for a 31-hour meeting with Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin. There, and in subsequent discussions throughout the week, the Russians asked to be accorded "most favored nation" status by the U.S., a move that would give Russia the same low-tariff access to American markets that other U.S. trading partners enjoy. Kosygin also suggested that the U.S. Export-Import Bank extend Russia the same easy credit arrangements offered to other nations. American refusal to grant credit and the Soviet Union's dearth of hard currency have long limited Soviet trade with the U.S.

It will take more than talk to increase trade between the two superpowers. The U.S. presently buys caviar, sable skins, chrome, aluminum scrap and various chemicals from the Soviets, but they have little else of immediate interest to offer American importers. Soviet industrial officials are anxious to acquire high-technology American goods, particularly machine tools and computer software; however, many of the items they desire require special clearance from the Commerce Department because of alleged national security considerations.

Still, Stans left Moscow claiming that "there are very substantial opportunities for increased trade in both directions between the two countries" and that "a watershed had been created in relations" with Russia. To show that he meant business, the Commerce Department a few days before Stans' trip granted 54 export licenses to U.S. firms, allowing them to ship some $528 million worth of industrial equipment earmarked for the Soviet Union's new Kama River truck factory.

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