ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to examine the impact of the foreign trade sector on the prospects for economic reform in the USSR. Four major areas of reform pressure will be examined. First, why does the Soviet Union trade with the outside world and how important is trade to the domestic economy? Secondly, to what extent has foreign trade acted as a substitute for domestic reform by permitting access to foreign technology? Thirdly, will changing trade needs and Balance of Payments pressure act as a catalyst to domestic reform? Fourthly, does the system of foreign trade itself act as a barrier to economic development and will changing trade needs result in pressure to change the foreign trade system, which in turn will lead to pressure for domestic reform? It is assumed that the reader may be less cognisant with the operation of the Soviet trade system than with the operation of the Soviet economic system as a whole, and a fairly detailed account of the origins and operation of the trade system has been provided. Finally, the intentions of the new leadership towards trade matters, and in particular the extent to which Comecon may become more or less inward looking, will be examined.
