Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger said today that a settlement of the Soviet emigration and trade issues is within sight and expressed confidence that the basis for an agreement could come as early as next week. Kissinger spoke in reply to questions by members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after delivering a 5000-word report on U.S.-Soviet detente in which be stressed the overriding importance of detente, especially its goal of eliminating the possibility of unclear war.
Kissinger’s optimiam was not shared by Sen. Jacob K. Javits (R.NY) one of three key Senators with whom the Administration has been negotiating for a compromise on the Jackson/ Mills-Vanik legislation. “We do not wish the signal to go up that we have changed course on the Jackson Amendment,” Javits said.
Apparently in reply to the point made by Kissinger in his prepared report that “the economic bargaining ability of most favored nation (MFN) status is marginal” in dealing with the Soviet Union, Javits observed, “You can’t have it both ways in that economics does not give us economic leverage or that we can kick moral concerns out of the window.”
Kissinger warned in his prepared report that raising issues of Soviet domestic political practices might jeopardize arms limitation agreements between the U.S. and the USSR. “MFN grants no special privilege to the USSR, “Kissinger said. “The significance of trade is inflated out of all proportions.”
Kissinger’s expression of confidence that the trade and emigration issues would soon be settled came after Sen. John J. Sparkman (D. Ala.), who is slated to succeed Sen. J. William Fulbright (D. Ark.) as Foreign Relations Committee chairman next Jan., observed that satisfactory progress has been made on the trade bill. “I am very optimistic,” Kissinger said, “that with good will on both sides–and I think there is good will on both sides–we can work something out. We hope this will be evident within a week.”
REPORT OF PROBLEMS DISPUTED
Capitol Hill sources close to the Jackson/ Mills-Vanik legislation indicated today, however that no further progress has been made in the regular discussions of the issue that Kissinger is holding with Sens. Javits. Henry M. Jackson (D. Wash.) and Abraham Ribicoff (D. Conn.) aimed at a compromise. Kissinger met with the Senators this week, and, according to the sources, got no further than they were two weeks ago.
Javits took sharp exception today to Kissinger’s warning that the “sudden ex poste facto form of linkage” of trade with the Soviet domestic order “raises serious questions.” The Secretary claimed, “At no time were issues regarding Soviet domestic political practices raised…Indeed, not until after 1972 was the Soviet domestic order invoked as a reason for arresting or reversing the progress so painfully achieved.”
Javits said that statement “worried me” and was disturbing. Jackson, who is expected to testify before the committee later, has pointed out that contrary to Kissinger’s allegation, his amendment linking U.S. trade benefits to an easing of Russian emigration policy was introduced before the Soviet-American trade agreement was announced in Oct. 1972.
KISSINGER, FULBRIGHT IN AGREEMENT
Kissinger’s appearance before the Fulbright Committee today was a continuation of the hearings which the Senator had scheduled last summer at Kissinger’s request. The Secretary was originally to have appeared last Aug. 8 but requested a postponement, apparently because of the Cyprus crisis and the imminent resignation of President Nixon. Supporters of the J/M-V legislation described the hearings as a last ditch effort to weaken or destroy the amendment.
Kissinger’s views today were closely shared by Fulbright, who observed in his opening statement that previous witnesses had agreed that detente is the most important foreign policy element for the U.S. and that it “engages” other factors including the Middle East. At no point in Kissinger’s report or in Fulbright’s remarks was any mention made of the J/M-V legislation.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
