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Chemical and American President Lines. And, much to our
delight, walt Disney decided to join them this year!
You are the biggest foreign investors in Hong
Kong. You account for more than 36% of foreign investment
in manufacturing. You employ 36,000 workers in 162
factories. They produce more than 7% of our exports. Their
total sales were estimated at US$2.2 billion in 1988. You
have a big stake in Hong Kong,
You are still our biggest market, taking one third
of our exports. And, while we are only your 14th largest
market, we buy more from you per head than anyone else. On
average, each person in Hong Kong buys just under US$1000
in American goods each year. Compare this with just over
US$300 by the Japanese and only US$234 by the Europeans.
I do not need to preach the virtues of free trade
to Californians. Yours is the sixth largest economy in the
world. We are California's sixth largest trading partner.
You also know that Hong Kong is literally hungry for your
exports. We take one tenth of all the fresh produce
exported by the United States. Most of it comes from
California. Last year Californians sold Hong Kong US$2.4
billion worth of goods. It reads like a grocery list:
oranges (we are your NO.1 market.) grapes, prunes and
plums, melons, tomatoes, avocado pears, cabbages, celery,