ABSTRACT

This chapter presents the conclusions of the book. For Bucharest, the opening to the United States, and to the West in general, meant economic gains through much needed access to credits and high technological products. Furthermore, Romania’s active participation in the international community balanced the looming hegemonic presence of USSR. This international political balancing served as a deterrent against Moscow in the aftermath of the invasion to Czechoslovakia. By taking a closer look at the US policy of differentiation, we observe that it shared certain similarities with European détente and in some respects, it even surpassed it. The US–Romanian Trade Agreement of 1975 which granted MFN status to Bucharest and its impact on the issue of emigration to the US and Israel is a good example of how differentiation complemented détente and widened its scope regarding the Eastern European regimes. The second broader theme that this book studies is the changes and continuities in the Eastern European policy of the US administrations in the seventies. Despite the antithetical reputations of Nixon and Ford, and Carter, a closer look on their record in the case of US–Romanian relations points towards the conclusion that continuity is the term that best describes American policy in the seventies.