ABSTRACT
The Federal Republic attempted to make the consequences of the division of Germany more tolerable for the citizens of the German Democratic Republic and to secure the status of Berlin. The Federal Republic has also feared that the fragile web of interaction with Eastern Europe, which includes a variety of historical, cultural, political and psychological factors, could be torn. Although there is apparently a trans-Atlantic consensus on East-West trade policy between the United States and the other Western countries, the consensus is fragile and incomplete in a number of areas. The comprehensive discussions in different international organizations about East-West economic relations during 1983 and 1984 limited the damage caused by the trans-Atlantic pipeline controversies of 1982. However, the consensus is a very fragile one—it could easily be destroyed by unilateral actions by the United States if the United States does not take proper account of the interests of the allies.
