Chapter 6: Science & Engineering 93
Foreign Markets
Despite their domestic focus, U.S. producers are important suppliers of high-tech products in overseas markets. Still, the 1980s proved to be challenging, as the U.S. share of foreign markets dropped steadily from 23
percent in 1981 to 18 percent in 1986.(Click here for footnote 9.) The strength of the U.S. dollar during the early eighties hampered U.S. competitiveness globally. But as a consequence, U.S. producers were
driven to be more innovative, to improve product performance, and to increase manufacturing efficiency. Better products, coupled with a weakening dollar, led to a rise in foreign market share after 1986, and U.S. high-tech industries' share of OECD
exports rebounded to 20 percent by 1988. However, an intensifying global economic slowdown and an appreciating U.S. dollar once again sidetracked U.S. export growth, and the U.S. foreign market share
slipped to just below 18 percent in 1992.
The United States is no longer the world's leading exporter of manufactures produced by high-tech industries. Beginning in 1983, Japan surpassed the United States and Germany in overall high-tech exports
and continued to lead by varying margins through 1992. (See figure 6-7 and appendix table 6-4.) In 1992, Japan accounted for 23 percent of OECD member
country high-tech product exports, compared with 18 percent for the United States and 12 percent for Germany. European Community manufacturers have been responsible for 47 to 50 percent of OECD high-tech exports throughout the 1980s and early 1990s,
although intra-European trade figures significantly in this calculation of the European share of OECD exports.
During the early eighties, nonhigh-tech U.S. industries, as a group, experienced similar difficulties in foreign markets. Throughout the 1981-92 period, U.S. high-tech industries held about twice the foreign market share of other U.S. manufacturing
industries.
Footnote 9:
Foreign market shares are calculated using data on OECD country exports contained in appendix table 6-4.
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