Shultz Tells Brezhnev Soviet Policy on Emigration Threatens Agreement

Treasury Secretary George P. Shultz has given Leonid Brezhnev “a full description” of Congressional feeling towards the Soviet government’s emigration policy and told him that it threatens the U.S.-Soviet Trade Agreement signed last Oct., Treasury Department officials told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today.

Reporting on a news conference Shultz held in Moscow earlier today, the officials said that their preliminary information from Moscow is that Shultz informed the media that “I reviewed with the various people I met the status of most favored nation legislation in our Congress and tried to explain the problem as we see it.” Asked if Brezhnev had reflected any willingness to rescind the Soviet education tax imposed on Jewish and other emigrants, Shultz replied “that is a question they will have to answer.” He declined to offer any details of the Soviet authorities’ response.

In describing to the Soviet Communist Party leader and other Kremlin authorities the nature of the U.S. political process, Shultz said he explained the veto power the Congress has over the trade agreement and that Congress must ratify the trade agreement before its provisions on tax credits and trade treatment for the Soviet Union can be granted by the American government. Shultz faced the newsmen after a three hour meeting with Brezhnev, Treasury sources told JTA. The Treasury Secretary is President Nixon’s first advisor on all economic affairs, international and domestic.

NIXON HAS MESSAGE FOR BREZHNEV

Shultz said that he explained the Soviet Jewish issue from the Washington standpoint as clearly as he could to Brezhnev. He emphasized, however, that President Nixon had not sent him to Moscow to negotiate any element between the two governments. Rather, he said, he came to Moscow to review the possibilities of developing Soviet-American trade and economic relations. In this connection, according to information supplied to JTA, Shultz said he was optimistic of the future of Soviet-American trade and that during his talks in Moscow he had found desires to solve problems between the super powers.

While at the Kremlin, Shultz delivered a message to Brezhnev from President Nixon in which the President said he wanted the development of bilateral relations. Brezhnev, however, did not pass a personal message to Shultz for the President.

Agricultural and natural resources, including gas, also were discussed by him with the Kremlin officials, Shultz said. While no conclusions were reached, he said, the proposals on a natural gas agreement were sufficiently promising for further discussions. The Treasury Secretary and his party were to leave Moscow later today or possibly tomorrow for Paris where they will again hold discussions with European monetary and economic leaders, Shultz Is expected to return to Washington early next week to report personally to the President.