After Finland's trade agreement with the Soviet Union in the 1960s, Nokia expanded into the Soviet market. It soon widened trade, ranging from automatic telephone exchanges to robotics among others; by the late 1970s, the Soviet Union became a major market for Nokia, helping to yield high profits. Nokia also co-operated on scientific technology with the Soviet Union. The U.S. government became increasingly suspicious of that co-operation after the end of the Cold War détente in the early 1980s. Nokia imported many US-made components and used them in products for the Soviets, and according to U.S. Deputy Minister of Defence, Richard Perle, Nokia had a secret co-operation with The Pentagon that allowed the U.S. to keep track of technology developments in the Soviet Union through trading with Nokia. This was a demonstration of Finland trading with both sides, as it was neutral during the Cold War.