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demands of the automobile, shoe and
electronics industries.
A Flood of Imports
Why the mounting cry to do some–
thing about imports?
Basic statistics tell the story.
lmports into the United States have
risen 90% since 1964. Six years ago,
before the U. S. infiation rate began to
worsen, the U. S. enjoyed a record
$6,400,000,000 worth of exports over
imports. Now the advantage has vir–
tually disappeared.
Yet, to make up for foreign military
and economic assistance, plus the Indo–
china War, the U. S. needs a hefty
trade surplus.
The percentages of certain products
that come to the U. S. from foreign
sources is staggering. Here's a list of kcy
items: steel, 13 percent; footwear, 33
percent; autos, 12 percent; woolen tex–
tiles, 26 percent; fish products, 50
percent; radios, 20 percent; television
sets, 30 percent; bicycles, 28 percent;
sweaters, 42 percent; borne magnetic
tapes, 88 percent.
Textile Industry Exerting
Pressure
The White House is under increas–
ingly bitter criticism from the textile
industry. Pressure is building to write
restrictive legislation that would reverse
the long-time American trend toward
international free trade.
In 1969, a year that saw all imports
into the United States rise by 8% , the
flow of cotton, wool and man-made tex–
tiles rose by almost 18% .
"Two out of every five men's wool
suits sold last year were made
f
rom
cloth manufactured in Japan," reports
Stanley Nehmer, U. S. deputy assistant
secretary of Commerce. The Commerce
Department
claims
that from January,
1969, to January, 1970, a total of 50,-
000 jobs disappeared in the American
textile and apparel ·industries. The loss
was blamed primarily on imports.
Attempts to get the Japanese textile
industry to agree to voluntarily limít
their exports to the United States have
met a stone wall of resistance.
According
to
the spokesman for the
Japan Textile Federation, its group is
"fully prepared for a protracted war
with the U. S." over the matter of
restricting exports of textile goods to
America. The Japanese textile meo
blame the inflating U. S. economy rather
than their own economic success for the
textile impasse.
Cornmerce Department officials who
have been exertíng pressure on the
Japanese accuse them of displaying
"arrogance" and "rudeness" in negotia–
tions. Japanese trade negotiators are
almost unanimously described as being
rough and unyielding.
Shoe Industry Feeling the Pioch
The impasse over textiles is threat–
ening to spill over into other industries.
The New England footwear industry,
once the largest and most important in
the nation, is being decimated. In places
like Haverhill, or Brockton, in Mas–
sachusetts, or Manchester, New Hamp–
shire, factoríes are d osing and workers
are being laid off.
Ambossodor
Collego
Photo
Expensive camera equipment on
display in West German store.
Powerful
deutsche mark,
one of
the world's strongest currencies,
has been revalued - not deval–
ued - twice in last ten years.
American shoe manufacturers iosist
that imports are responsible for their
plight. Like the textile men, they are
demanding sorne type of quota arrange–
ment to protect them from the rising
flood of overseas merchandise.
So
far,
Congress and the administration have
been impervious to their pleas, but the
shouts are getting louder and more des–
perate every day.
According to one shoe company offi.
cial in HaverhiU, there were 23 foot–
wear plants in that city a decade ago.
"Only seven are left," he says, "and
two of these are going out of business
in the next 30 to 60 days. It's become a
ghost town - I've got nobody to talk to
anymore."
Imported Living Color
Every U. S. company which makes
and sells color television sets suffered
linancially the first quarter of
this
year.
Two factors are responsible: the general
econornic slowdown - and the rising
tide of imports.
Joseph Wright, chairman of Zenith,
charges that Japanese sets are being
"dumped into the U. S. market at prices
far below the Japanese home market
price."
In 1968, color sets imported from
abroad totaled 243,000. In 1969, they
rose to 447,000.
This year they are coming in so fast