A Bid for Better Relations

By Russ Hoyle

As troubles mount at home, Kohl prepares to visit Washington

Ever since Helmut Kohl came to power just over a month ago, the new Chancellor has insisted that West German ties with the U.S. would continue to be "the cornerstone of the Federal Republic's foreign policy." That continuity was symbolized by the presence in the Cabinet of Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Genscher, the Free Democratic Party leader who served in the same post under Kohl's predecessor, Helmut Schmidt, and who has been a staunch defender of U.S. leadership in the troubled Atlantic Alliance. Indeed, soon after taking office.

Kohl vowed to "lead the German-American relationship out of the twilight zone and confirm and stabilize the friendship." Last week, on the eve of his first official visit to Washington, Kohl again pledged to "deepen the relationship through stronger consultation."

The Chancellor should be warmly received by the Reagan Administration when he arrives next week. As leader of West Germany's center-right coalition of his own Christian Democratic Union and Genscher's tiny but pivotal Free Democratic Party, Kohl stands ideologically closer to Reagan than did Schmidt. Nevertheless, Kohl faces formidable obstacles in his bid to brighten the relationship with Washington. West Germany is suffering its worst economic troubles in 30 years, and that fact severely restricts Kohl in working out nagging differences with the U.S. Sharp disagreements, inherited from Schmidt's days, remain focused on the Soviet pipeline controversy, nuclear defense policy and recent U.S. efforts to curb West European steel imports.

The change of leadership in Bonn has not alleviated West German resentment about President Reagan's ban on the sale of U.S.-licensed European-made equipment and technology to the Soviets for the 3,000-mile Siberia-Europe natural gas pipeline. Like Schmidt, Kohl has made it clear that West German companies, such as giant Mannesmann, which has $390 million in pipeline contracts with the Soviet Union, should honor their commitments. That resolve hardened when the Reagan Administration last month announced its decision to sell the Soviet Union 23 million tons of wheat, or 15 million more than last year's allotment. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, usually pro-U.S. in its views, curtly dismissed the grain deal as a ploy "to win the votes of American farmers" in last week's midterm U.S. elections.

The bitter reaction of West Europeans to the new grain sales may have had an effect on Washington. U.S. officials have recently been holding talks in Washington with West European counterparts aimed at a compromise that would end the current U.S. sanctions. The Administration is said to be pressing for a unified alliance policy of strict credit limitations, along with a tightening of COCON, the joint U.S.-European list of military technology barred from export to the East bloc, and its extension to strategically sensitive industrial technology, like oil-drilling equipment. West European sources in Bonn maintain that agreement is close on a compromise package, though both Great Britain and France have firmly stated their unwillingness to make concessions to the U.S. on more stringent trade guidelines. The proposed formula reportedly would bar European involvement in a second pipeline project.

Both U.S. and West German officials B would like to announce some kind of accord during Kohl's visit. But the Chancellor cannot cozy up too close to Washington for fear of alienating restive political factions at home that are wary of Washington's belligerent stance toward Moscow. In addition, the Kohl government is unlikely to risk exacerbating West Germany's acute unemployment (now 7.9%, the jobless rate is expected to reach a record 9.5% this winter) by cutting back on East-bloc trade, which accounts for 6% of West Germany's annual export revenues. A key reason: Kohl has pledged to call elections next March 6, and if he is to win, he cannot afford further economic deterioration.

So far, at any rate, the Chancellor is unwavering in his support for the planned NATO deployment of U.S.-made cruise and Pershing II missiles, which will begin as early as next year (see following interview). But the economic squeeze has forced him to trim military programs that the U.S. would like to see in place. Kohl's government has already cut benefits for West Germany's 495,000-man Bundeswehr, NATO's largest European conventional army. And though U.S. General Bernard Rogers, NATO's Supreme Commander, would like Bonn to pick up the tab for building a new forward-base system for 300,000 U.S. troops along the East German and Czechoslovak borders, West Germany has effectively bowed out of the scheme.

The West Germans have managed to avert a trade war with the U.S. by a last-minute decision two weeks ago to accept Administration limitations on West European steel exports to the U.S. Even so, the constraints on Kohl in sprucing up the relationship with Washington are considerable. If he is to be more than an interim caretaker, he will have to find ways to ease West Germany's inflation rate of 5.5% and a projected budget shortfall of $16 billion next year. Since Helmut Schmidt removed himself last month as a prospective Social Democratic candidate for Chancellor in the coming elections, Kohl will have a good opportunity to prove his leadership. If he falters, recently elected S.P.D. Leader Hans-Jochen Vogel, a potential candidate for Chancellor and a man who would like to move his party to the left, could benefit enormously. That is a possibility both Washington and the current government in Bonn would prefer to avoid . -- By Russ Hoyle. Reported by Roland Flamini/Bonn

With reporting by Roland Flamini

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