What was the Extent of US-Soviet Trade during the Cold War and How did it Take Place?

by Veqq

I've heard that the US imported grain in exchange for gold. I also recall reading about a British (possibly American) capitalist who had factories in the Soviet Union and was friends with Lenin through Brezhnev.

[deleted]

Grain for gold happened in 1929-1933 during the industrialization of Soviet Union, the gold was spent on machinery. That was not Cold War.

Henry Ford was building a factory in Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod), which later was nationalized and is known as GAZ now. However he did not know Lenin personally.

The info on trade is fragmentary, it's hard to trace the origin of particular imported goods. Soviet Union imported a lot of US produced steel in the 50s and 60s and by the end of 70s, started to import grain. Those are the only direct trade flows I know off.

Soviet Union promoted autarky and tried to isolated the Eastern bloc from relying on international trade especially with the "possible enemy".