President Reagan lifts trading sanctions

Press, 21 February 1987, Page 11

President Reagan lifts trading sanctions

By

WILLIAM SCALLY,

of Reuters (through NZPA) WASHINGTON President Ronald Reagan has lifted trade sanctions against Poland but says future United States-Polish ties depend on further moves towards national reconciliation by the military Government in Warsaw. The action was taken in response to liberalisation measures by the Government of General Wojciech Jaruzelski and appeals by Solidarity union and church leaders in Poland and Polish-Americans in the United States. Removal of the sanctions ended a bitter episode in United States-Pol-ish relations which began with the crackdown against Solidarity in December, 1981. In a statement, Mr Reagan noted the Polish Government had lifted martial law in 1983 and thousands of political prisoners had been freed in a series of amnesties. The final amnesty was

declared in September, 1986. '

Mr Reagan said Washington had made clear that improvement in United States-Polish ties would be possible only if Warsaw maintained the spirit of the amnesty and relied on a national dialogue and respect for human rights. “We will be watching to see that further steps are taken towards national reconciliation in Poland, and that the progress made is not reversed,” he said.

Restoration of favourable tariff treatment of Polish exports to the United States and the lifting of a ban against official credits and credit guarantees was not likely to have any immediate dramatic effect. “There will be no manna from heaven flowing from this decision,” a senior State Department official said.

During the suspension of so-called Most Favoured Nation tariff status, Polish exports to the United States dwindled

from $427 million to about $250 million last year. The Polish Government said the sanctions, which it termed illegal, had cost Poland $l5 billion, or almost half its debt to the West of $33.5 billion. The September amnesty led to intensified Ameri-can-Polish contacts that culminated in a trip to Poland by a Deputy Secretary of State, John Whitehead, last month. Leaders of Solidarity

and the Catholic Church told Mr Whitehead they wanted the sanctions removed.

Mr Reagan said the liberalisation process still had far to go.

“National reconciliation remains a dream, a goal for the future rather than a reality of today. I continue to believe, as do the Polish people, that it is a possible dream,” he said. Officials said Washington was concerned by the continued detention of an estimated dozen or two dozen Poles on criminal charges that appeared to have a political aspect • They said there were also concerns that the Solidarity union, although a potent force in Polish society, remained illegal. As a sign of strengthening United States-Polish ties, negotiations begin next week on a new scientific and technological exchange agreement between the two countries and a Polish Parliamentary delegation is due in Washington here next month.