Do Russians Mean Business?

When France and Soviet Russia signed their first commercial treaty in 19 years last July, the official communique announced only that $84 million worth of goods would be exchanged in the next three years. Last week a few details trickled out of Paris, and they were enough to raise U.S. eyebrows. In return for coal, crude oil and corn, France will send Russia 100,000 tons of rolled-steel products, 3,000 tons of lead, 3,000 tons of cork, six 5,000-ton freighters, 25 steam boilers and 200 cranes plus several shipments of textiles and North African fruits.

None of these items, said the French, was on the U.S. list of strategic goods, and all had been double-checked by the NATO-wide trade coordinating committee in Paris. Actually, the new pact, which would amount to less than 1% of France's total export trade, was more of a test of Russian intentions than anything else.

For months, the Russians have held out the lure of East-West trade to Europe, but the sweet talk has always contained more saccharin than sugar. For the last seven years France has signed an annual trade treaty with Russia's satellite, Czechoslovakia, exchanging phosphates and machinery for pottery, wood pulp and coal-tar products. The pacts have not worked out well. In 1951 the Czechs and French exchanged only 60% of the agreed quota, and last year the figure was down to 35%.

This time France planned to test Red intentions by making the first year's deliveries mainly in fruits and textiles. When the Russians come across with their crude oil and corn, France will start shipping capital goods behind the Iron Curtain. Said one French official: "The next few months will show if the Russians really mean business."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.