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

DATE: FRIDAY, July 13, 1990                   TAG: 9007130078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

BUSH RECEIVES PRIASE FOR SUMMITS

President Bush gave congressional leaders his personal review Thursday of the NATO and economic summits, winning praise for going slowly on Soviet aid and quickly on fighting farm subsidies.

Bush, back in the White House from a week of summits on two continents, met first with his Cabinet, which greeted him with applause.

Then, joined by his secretaries of state, defense and treasury, Bush gave more than a dozen top Democrat and Republican lawmakers a rundown on the London and Houston summits.

"It was basically upbeat," Rep. Dante Fascell, D-Fla., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said of the briefing.

Fascell said the United States had "accomplished what it set out to do" in London in revising the Western alliance's military strategy and showing "that the Soviets need not fear NATO."

House Speaker Thomas Foley said the economic summit, which concluded Wednesday in Houston, "made some progress. There are still obviously some unresolved issues with respect to trade."

On the question of Soviet aid, Foley said the president reiterated his belief "that additional economic reforms are necessary. I can only say that I don't dispute the president's statement at this time."

The United States won a commitment from its six economic summit partners and the European Community to revive the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade talks by trying to cut farm subsidies.

Bush also withstood pressure from West Germany and France for coordinated Western aid.

by CNB