ABSTRACT
The Federal Republic of Germany's economic relations with Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union have been determined by its special geographical and political place in Europe. The Federal Republic's political stake in its economic ties with the USSR is therefore largely determined by its commitment to a rapprochement with East Germany. The United States (US) has changed its attitude toward the desirability and advisability of maintaining detente, and this has caused difficulties for the Federal Republic in seeking to promote East-West commercial relations. The Federal Republic has found it increasingly difficult to support US policy on expanded sanctions toward the USSR and Poland. The German evaluation of the interconnection between economics and politics in East-West relations is more positive and more complicated than that of its European allies and that of the US The German government disagrees, claiming that private credit guarantees would be so expensive as to be unaffordable.
