Word: steels
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...most immediate question is what the Reagan Administration and Congress are going to do about the outsize dollar and trade imbalances. That they have to do something, and quickly, is not in any doubt. The U.S. trade deficit, or excess of imports (shoes and shirts from Taiwan, cars, steel, just about anything made in Japan, to cite some particularly contentious items) over exports (farm products, jet planes, computers are major ones), is heading toward a record $150 billion this year. That is nearly four times what it was as recently as 1981. The surge in imports and lag in exports...
...meanwhile been developing a telling case for opposing import restrictions. It is true, they concede, that foreign nations often discriminate against U.S. exports. But the U.S. is a sinner too. From time to time it has negotiated quotas, sometimes disguised as "voluntary" agreements with foreign producers, on imports of steel, autos, sugar and even textiles. In a study for the Institute for International Economics, C. Fred Bergsten and William Cline contend that the U.S. restricts imports from Japan about as much as Japan limits purchases from the U.S. Another widely quoted estimate is that if all the restrictions that American...
Quotas have often been ineffective in holding down the general level of imports and sometimes even in aiding the domestic industries they are supposed to help. In steel, quotas on shipments from the European Community, Japan and eleven other nations were supposed to hold imports to 20.5% of U.S. consumption, but the actual share is running at 25.7%. What quotas and other restrictions do accomplish is to raise prices of imports and of the American goods that compete against them. The New York Federal Reserve Bank figures that quotas and tariffs on clothing and textiles cost consumers between $8.5 billion...
Some U.S. industries, notably steel and autos, let their labor costs get out of hand, solidifying America's double-edged distinction of having the highest paid manufacturing workers in the world (see chart). Others turned out products that consumers judged to be of poor design and workmanship, unwittingly setting themselves up as targets for foreign competitors. Standout example: Japanese cars are no longer remarkably cheap in the U.S., but they sell heavily on what Detroit automakers concede is a reputation for superior quality. American automen insist they have improved the quality of their cars enough to equal the Japanese...
...sign was composed of 14 red plastic and stainless steel letters spelling "The Harvard Coop." The letters were 30 inches high and extended almost 60 feet. The entire sign weighed approximately...