ABSTRACT
The debate over harmonizing trade policies toward the East, which has taken on a renewed intensity since the USSR's entry into Afghanistan, does not reflect a politicization of trade with the East but rather a divergence of political concepts. State monopoly of foreign trade also entails concentration of foreign trade on a few suppliers. East-West trade is therefore influenced by both political and economic factors. East-West trade accounts for about 30 per cent of the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) countries' foreign trade but only about 3 per cent of OECD countries' foreign trade. East-West trade is therefore of greater relative importance to the CMEA countries than to OECD countries. Developments in trade can be largely explained by economic factors, such as the insufficient competitiveness of CMEA exports, recession in the West and also partly in the CMEA, as well as the rising cost of raw materials and credit.
