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On the other hand, Mitterrand had domestic political motives for going public with his criticism. Before his government was forced into the current round of austerity measures, Mitterrand launched a program of Socialist pump priming, at a time when most other industrialized countries found it necessary to cut back. Result: domestic inflation is still 9%. With public support for the Socialists in France slipping badly, Mitterrand is using the U.S. as a convenient scapegoat.
Mitterrand's outburst was an embarrassment to Chancellor Kohl, who prefers, as he put it at the same press conference, "to talk with friends and not at them." Nonetheless, concern over U.S. economic policies now appears to be endemic among all the allies. Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau has publicly cited the U.S. deficit as a contributor to "destructive" international interest rates, and so has British Chancellor of the Exchequer Geoffrey Howe.
It remains to be seen, however, whether such harping will disturb the planned congeniality of Williamsburg. Reagan is hoping to avoid the sort of highly publicized disagreements that poisoned the atmosphere at last year's Versailles summit, now privately admitted by U.S. officials to have been a "disaster." At that time, the falling out was over Western Europe's purchase of natural gas from the Soviet pipeline.
Unlike at Versailles, where Reagan often found himself in a minority on East-West issues, at Williamsburg he should have comfort in numbers. Three of his fellow leaders — British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and West Germany's Kohl — share many of Reagan's economic and social philosophies. The others —Mitterrand, Trudeau and Italian Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani — lean more to the center and the left.
Nonetheless, Reagan's free-style format for the meeting carries its own risks. As chairman, he is required to master a wide variety of foreign trade and political matters that have never been his strong suit. To ensure against embarrassing flubs, Reagan has held frequent briefing sessions with a shifting cast of experts. Another hazard is that the unstructured nature of the meeting will make it easier for the foreign leaders to air any conflict that they choose to bring up. Says one of Reagan's summit advisers: "There's no question that this is a riskier process. If anyone wants to generate confrontation, he can do it."
Against those risks must be measured the President's enduring personal charm and the fact that those attending the meeting are, after all, friends and allies. No matter what thorny discussions come up behind the colonial doors of Williamsburg, the Great Communicator can be expected to put an affable face on them. — By George Russell.
Reported by Laurence I. Barrett/Washington and Lawrence Malkin/Paris
*Another U.S. summit is not scheduled until 1990.