ABSTRACT
Soviet economic relations with the West have traditionally tended toward an exchange of Soviet raw materials and fuels for Western capital goods, intermediate products, and (periodically) food. The Soviet Union uses East-West trade to provide Western firms with some of its abundant natural resources and thus to "produce," through trade, goods it would be expensive to produce domestically. There is no doubt that the role of foreign trade in the Soviet economy has increased in the postwar period; both Soviet data and Western recalculations of those data reflect that. But there is some controversy over the share of foreign trade in Soviet gross national product (GNP). Vladimir Treml estimates that in 1980 imports constituted 20 percent of Soviet national income, or about 16 percent of GNP. Those who advocate that the West reduce or eliminate exports to the Soviet Union are seeking to reduce or eliminate Soviet gains from trade with the West.
