ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the differences between the interests of the individual Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) (6)-countries and the performance of the respective national policies in the field of foreign trade. There was an enormous increase in imports from the West by all European CMEA-countries in the first half of the 1970s and up until 1974, in which imports from the West were again more dynamic than imports from the East. Despite the reduction of the West's share of total trade in all CMEA-countries since 197S, trade dependence is higher than in 1970 not to mention 1960. The necessary incentives to improve efficiency and modernize, however, will only come from competition which cannot be found within the CMEA. The alternative is to protect oneself from the West and extend socialist integration within the CMEA. The further development of East-West trade will also be characterized by differences between the targets in and degree of involvement of the respective countries.
