US Must End Cold War Trade Hangover
Stephen Sestanovich, Council on Foreign Relations | May 20, 2009
The Obama Administration must get rid of a "cold war fossil" - the Jackson-Vanik amendment - which makes normal trade relations with Russia contingent on free emigration. ++ Russia has allowed such freedom for years, but the law remains
in force despite attempts by former Presidents Clinton and Bush to get rid of it. ++ Obama will struggle to remove it too. ++ Congress retains it as leverage for US exports. ++ The law once played an important role in US-Soviet Union relations, but the new challenge is to make putting it aside just as important.
