ABSTRACT
Any relative increase in trade with Council for Mutual Economic Assistance is, therefore, due to the growth in trade with the Soviet Union. The importance of East European countries for West German trade has decreased. West Germany certainly has a greater stake in detente than does the US, but the difference results from the fact that the Federal Republic of Germany has obtained tangible political and economic benefits from the process without compromising its commitment to the West. The structure of West German exports to the German Democratic Republic (GDR) clearly shows that the GDR uses inter-German trade mainly as a means of sustaining current production. In 1983 investment goods accounted for only 18 percent of deliveries to the GDR. The GDR can, therefore, scarcely act as a significant conduit for West German technology destined for the Soviet Union.
