C. U.S. Imports of Consumer Goods from Developing Countries

U.S. imports of nonautomotive consumer goods have grown more and more rapidly in the 1970s. By 1980 the overall deficit in trade in this category was $18 billion, small in comparison to the capital goods surplus, but still significant. U.S. imports from develop¬ ing countries grew from 25 percent of total nonautomotive consumer goods imports in 1970 to 50 percent in 1979. Thus as U.S. imports of consumer goods from developing countries grew in the 1970s, U.S. exports to them provided the basis for expanding these con¬ sumer goods industries. To some extent, the growth of consumer goods imports in the U.S. released resources to provide for the ex¬ pansion of capital goods exports. The U.S. economy became in¬ creasingly interdependent with the economies of the developing countries.
135
TABLE 10: U.S. EXPORTS OF CAPITAL GOODS, TOTAL (ANNUAL AVERAGE GROWTH RATES)
Critical Issues & Decisions
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Critical Issues & Decisions
Table 11 presents the data in U.S. imports of nonautomotive consumer goods in constant 1979 dollars. We see fairly steady growth in total imports of nonautomotive consumer goods except during the recession year of 1975 and the growth recession that began in 1979. In the data for imports from Latin America we see a quadrupling from 1970 through 1974, a drop in 1975 and more gradual growth since. Imports from the Near East and South Asia show steadier growth paths, with South Asia the steeper. Imports from Southeast Asia doubled from 1970 to 1974, paused in 1975, and then doubled again by 1979. Imports from Africa increased fivefold from 1970 through 1979 The share of the LDCs in total U.S. imports of nonautomotive consumer goods ran from 25 percent in 1970 to 33 percent in 1973 and 50 percent in 1979. Their total of $15 billion in 1979 was much less than U.S. exports of capital goods to them— $24 billion in 1979.
The growth rate summary of Table 12 shows U.S. total imports of nonautomotive consumer goods growing at an annual rate of 6.2 percent from 1973 through 1979, again faster than total real de¬ mand. Imports from each developing country area grew substantial¬ ly faster, as their share increased. Thus, as manufacturing capacity grew in the developing countries in the 1970s, their output found a market in the U.S.