West Germany: A Bid for Better Relations

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As troubles mount at home, Kohl prepares to visit Washington

Ever since Helmut Kohl came to power just over a month ago, the new Chancellor has insisted that West German ties with the U.S. would continue to be "the cornerstone of the Federal Republic's foreign policy." That continuity was symbolized by the presence in the Cabinet of Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Genscher, the Free Democratic Party leader who served in the same post under Kohl's predecessor, Helmut Schmidt, and who has been a staunch defender of U.S. leadership in the troubled Atlantic Alliance. Indeed, soon after taking office.

Kohl vowed to "lead the German-American relationship out of the twilight zone and confirm and stabilize the friendship." Last week, on the eve of his first official visit to Washington, Kohl again pledged to "deepen the relationship through stronger consultation."

The Chancellor should be warmly received by the Reagan Administration when he arrives next week. As leader of West Germany's center-right coalition of his own Christian Democratic Union and Genscher's tiny but pivotal Free Democratic Party, Kohl stands ideologically closer to Reagan than did Schmidt. Nevertheless, Kohl faces formidable obstacles in his bid to brighten the relationship with Washington. West Germany is suffering its worst economic troubles in 30 years, and that fact severely restricts Kohl in working out nagging differences with the U.S. Sharp disagreements, inherited from Schmidt's days, remain focused on the Soviet pipeline controversy, nuclear defense policy and recent U.S. efforts to curb West European steel imports.

The change of leadership in Bonn has not alleviated West German resentment about President Reagan's ban on the sale of U.S.-licensed European-made equipment and technology to the Soviets for the 3,000-mile Siberia-Europe natural gas pipeline. Like Schmidt, Kohl has made it clear that West German companies, such as giant Mannesmann, which has $390 million in pipeline contracts with the Soviet Union, should honor their commitments. That resolve hardened when the Reagan Administration last month announced its decision to sell the Soviet Union 23 million tons of wheat, or 15 million more than last year's allotment. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, usually pro-U.S. in its views, curtly dismissed the grain deal as a ploy "to win the votes of American farmers" in last week's midterm U.S. elections.