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To stimulate sales abroad, government agencies have stepped up export credits and insurance, have even begun to lend money to importers of French goods. France sees a great market in Russia. Last week Debre jetted to Moscow in hopes of putting some spunk into the two-year-old Franco-Soviet trade pact; the Russians had promised to buy $345 million worth of French goods this year, but as of October had ordered only $250 million worth.
Yankee, Come In. Most important for the U.S., the Gaullists continue to relax their old policy of discouraging foreign investments. Debre has learned that if France excludes them, U.S. companies will plant branches in other Common Market countries and then export freely to France (TIME, April 1). The Gaullists also have come to believe —after years of chauvinistic doubt—that U.S. capital and technology can benefit French industry. When Motorola offered to develop a semiconductor industry and invest generously in research, Debre gave the company permission to build a multi-million-dollar plant in Toulouse. Now General Electric, ITT and the Dutch Philips are vying to take over a French electric-equipment manufacturer, and the U.S. firms appear to have the edge. Says Debre's top aide, Antoine DuPont-Fauville: "We will try to preserve certain sectors that touch on our national interest, but in the future a French non will be the exception rather than the rule."