[175]

In 1973, Nixon encouraged the Export-Import Bank to finance in part a trade deal with the Soviet Union in which Armand Hammer's Occidental Petroleum would export phosphate from Florida to the Soviet Union, and import Soviet ammonia. The deal, valued at $20 billion over 20 years, involved the construction of two major Soviet port facilities at Odessa and Ventspils,[176][177][178] and a pipeline connecting four ammonia plants in the greater Volga region to the port at Odessa.[178] In 1973, Nixon announced his administration was committed to seeking most favored nation trade status with the USSR,[179] which was challenged by Congress in the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.[180]
During the previous two years, Nixon had made considerable progress in U.S.–Soviet relations, and he embarked on a second trip to the Soviet Union in 1974.[181] He arrived in Moscow on June 27 to a welcome ceremony, cheering crowds, and a state dinner at the Grand Kremlin Palace that evening.[181] Nixon and Brezhnev met in Yalta, where they discussed a proposed mutual defense pact, détente, and MIRVs. Nixon considered proposing a comprehensive test-ban treaty, but he felt he would not have time to complete it during his presidency.