ABSTRACT
The Soviet Union has made no bones about its strong desire to expand the scope of East-West trade. Businessmen, bureaucrats and politicians in the Western countries have been only a little more equivocal. Some countries have made an occasional effort to screen out technologies with important military application, while the United States has also sought to break down Soviet restrictions on the emigration of Russian Jews. A familiar concern with regard to Soviet economic relations with the West is that the U.S.S.R. is in a position to exercise its power as sole supplier or sole purchaser in trading transactions with competing Western businessmen, thus capturing most or all of the gains from trade. To be sure, the Soviet Union has undertaken in bilateral agreements with the United States and with various European countries to provide a response of sorts. One major problem arises out of the Soviet Union's strong preference for conducting its foreign trade on a balanced bilateral basis.
