
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 28, 1990                   TAG: 9004280153
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

TRADE ACCORD BLASTED

President Bush's policy of seeking not to damage relations with the Soviet Union during the Lithuanian crisis came under sharp attack Friday by nine Republican senators, marking the first serious break in congressional support for the administration's handling of the Baltic situation.

The senators called on the administration to renounce the trade agreement American and Soviet negotiators reached in principle Thursday, saying it was ill-timed because of the Soviet crackdown on Lithuania.

Until Friday, Bush's decision not to impose sanctions against Moscow had been greeted mostly with bipartisan approval.

The senators, many of whom have strongly backed Bush's foreign policy stands, were unusually critical.

"I am appalled at the lack of sensitivity by the White House toward the Lithuanian people as they desperately struggle to reassert independence," said Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey, R-N.H.

"To announce an agreement liberalizing trade with the Soviets, two days after the president revealed he would assess no penalty against the Soviets for their bullying of Lithuania, is callous and unfeeling in the extreme," he said.

Bob Dole, the Senate Republican leader, was not one of the nine who criticized Bush, but he suggested he would "slow walk" the trade pact through Congress. "We shouldn't be doing the Kremlin any favors right now," he said.

George Mitchell, D-Maine, the Senate majority leader, has also indicated he would consider a slowdown in the negotiations.

The United States announced Thursday that it had reached broad agreement on a pact that, once approved by Congress, could give the Soviet Union new trade privileges through most-favored-nation tariff treatment by the United States.

"This is a sellout of freedom, and, to be quite frank, it is sickening," said Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato, R-N.Y, who organized a news conference to make the criticism. "It is unacceptable for the U.S. to enter into a favorable trade agreement with the Soviet Union while it crushes Lithuanian freedom under a jackboot," he said.

The other senators were Connie Mack of Florida, Malcolm Wallop of Wyoming, Steve Symms of Idaho, James McClure of Idaho, Frank H. Murkowski of Alaska, Don Nickles of Oklahoma and William L. Armstrong of Colorado.

by CNB