ABSTRACT
The United States (US) usually has taken the lead in setting Western strategic trade policy, at times differing sharply with its allies. US-European differences have occurred partly because American trade with the Soviet bloc has been less important to the US than the Europeans’ trade with the East has been to them. The US and Western strategic trade policy originated in the major postwar realignment of the Western European democracies. The US government had sound historical reasons to insist that controls on trade with the East be an integral part of Western security policy. The US had helped win both world wars by mobilizing large numbers of men and resources rather than by drawing on a wealth of military experience or an elite professional officer corps. The Mutual Defense Assistance Control Act of 1951 placed these controls within overall US international security policy.
