Basic HTML Version
WORLD LEADERS
PREDICT
A"Divorce'' Between America
and Europe!
by
Gene H. Hogberg
For three decades, the U.S. and Western Europe have enjoyed unprecedented
prosperity in a dynamic partnership. But disputes over trade and
relations with the Soviet bloc now t hreaten to rip the Atlantic Alliance asunder.
T
EMPERS
are rising on
both sides of the Atlan–
tic. Political positions
are hardening. R elations be–
tween t he United States and
its allies in Western Europe
are at an a ll -time low.
" There is more mutual dis–
trus t of intentions," says one
British journalist, " than any
time since the end of the war
against Hitler."
France' s Foreign Minister
Claude Cheysson summed up the
situation most succinctly when he
expressed the belief that a "gradual
divorce" was taking place between
America and Europe.
Mr. Cheysson' s somber predic–
t ion should not be taken lightly.
Should he be proved correct, many
people will be hurt- as in divorces
on the individual leve!.
Trade Rift Widens
Despite toe day-to-day smooth flow
of trade still conducted across the
Atlantic, disputes over export and
fi scal policies are reaching the acri–
monious stage. These rows would
matter less were they not taking
place in the mids t of a world reces–
sion.
One issue is particularly explosive
at the moment. The United States,
faced with severe unemployment
2
and rising excess capacity in the
steel industry, has decided to slap a
penalty on those steel imports from
Europe that the United States has
dete rmined to be underpriced
because of subsidies to producers
from European governments.
The various national steel indus–
tries in Europe, too, are fighting for
their lives. Severa! governments
have u ndeniably propped up thei r
ai ling industries.
For their part, European Com–
mon Market countries, staring ata
record 1
O
million unemployed ,
have expressed concern for many
months about U .S. policies that
they believe help keep them in the
economic doldrums. Europeans
charge the conservative fiscal pro–
gram of Pres ident Ronald Reagan
keeps interest rates bigh in their
countries, stifling job-producing
investments.
The list of actual individual
transatlantic trade quarrels is now
so extensive that the regulations
establisbed by the General Agree–
me n t on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) are in danger of being
overwhelmed. Nation after nation
is resorti ng to one devious means
after another, such as complex bar–
tering arrangements, to circumvent
the GATT rules.
Experts in the field of interna–
tional t rade are fearful the entire
post-World War II Free World
economic structure may soon col–
lapse u nder the accumulating
weight of complaints and counter–
charges.
T he Pipeline Predicament
There is another issue, however, that
threatens to drive the deepest wedge
of all into the transatlantic partner–
ship. It goes far beyond money and
jobs, critica! as these are, into the
very su bstance of the relations
between Europe and America.
This divisive dilemma surrounds
the building of a natural gas pipeline
from Siberia in the Soviet Union to
connect with existing pipelines head–
ing into Western Europe. The proj–
ect- the largest
in
the history of
East-West trade-was originally
intended to deliver gas to Italy, West
Germany, France, Switzerland and
Austria by 1984.
S i nce the project was first
mooted years ago, Washington has
fretted that the pipel ine would
make West European nations too
dependent on
th~
Soviet Union for
energy supplies and thus produce a
danger?us security situation in the
VERSAILLES SUMMIT: Leaders of the
Free World's seven industrial powers
convened Jast June at Versailles Palace,
near Paris, France, for their annual con·
ference. Cooperation appeared to pre·
vail, but soon afterward frictions deve/–
oped again over trade matters, especial–
/y
those dealing with Eastern Europe.
The
PLAIN TRUTH