The Truth About Trade by Alan Tonelson (NAPSA)—If you want an eco- nomic indicator to bank on, look at America’s trade performance. Today’s trade figures show imports are taking market share from U.S. corporations here at home—and that means slower economic growth and fewer good jobs for hard-working Americans. Trade deficits show that we are living beyond our national means. Individual Americans have run up so muchcredit card debt that they might not care if our nation is doing the same. But unlike borrowing money, which can bring success if the money is wisely used, losing market share has no potential upside. Companies losing market share to competitors are never favorably regarded. Their futures are never rosy. And the current market share picture is devastating. From 1997 to 2000, almost no U.S. industries gained domestic market share from foreign firms and most lost big time. Our auto industry—which lobbied hard for “free trade” agreements like NAFTA—saw its market share shrink from 55 percent to under 47 percent. The steel industry went from 80.3 percent to 77.4 percent. The situation is no better in the high-tech field. From 1997 to 2000, foreign market share in aircraft—an American specialty— nearly doubled. In electronic products, foreign market share rose from 39.4 percent to 48.9. American industries also export, so they compete elsewhere in Economists say the trade de- ficit is an important barometerof the U.S. economy. the world. But the U.S. market is the world’s most important—and the one American companies know best. If they can’t win here, where can they? Even if the trade deficit figures are incomprehensible, you should be concerned that American industries are losing domestic market share. You don’t have to be a Ph.D. economist to see that foreign-made goods increasinglyfill our stores. For American workers that means fewer good jobs, lower pay and poor benefits. For individuals and the nation, the day of reckoning is coming— unless we changeourtradepolicies drastically. Mr. Tonelsonis a research fellow at the U.S. Business and Industry Council Educational Foundation. His book on globalization, The Race to the Bottom, was published by Westview Press and was recently released in paperback.
