WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1986
HE WENT ON TO SAY THAT THE IMPRESSION HAD BEEN GIVEN THAT IMPORTS FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES HAD DEVASTATED THE UNITED STATES TEXTILE AND APPAREL INDUSTRY.
+NOT TRUE, + MR DORWARD SAID. +U.S. PRODUCTION AND PROFITS HAVE RISEN IN RECENT YEARS, ALTHOUGH MUCH IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY REDUCED THE NEED FOR LABOUR AND SO EMPLOYMENT FELL. IT IS, AT BEST, QUAINT LOGIC TO ARGUE THAT IMPORTS SHOULD BE FURTHER CURTAILED TO RESTORE JOBS LOST TO IMPROVED EFFICIENCY.+
HE ALSO REFUTED THE ARGUMENT THAT MORE AND MORE
RESTRICTIONS WERE NEEDED ON IMPORTS BECAUSE FOREIGN COMPETITION BASED ON WAGE RATES LOWER THAN THOSE IN THE UNITED STATES WAS UNFAIR.
+THE FACT IS THAT THE U.S. TEXTILE AND APPAREL INDUSTRY SHELTER BEHIND TARIFFS BETWEEN FOUR AND FIVE TIMES HIGHER THAN AVERAGE FOR INDUSTRIAL GOODS. AND OTHER U.S. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES SURVIVE, PROSPER AND EXPORT WITH LESS PROTECTION AN HIGHER WAGES, HE SAID.
PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES FOR JULY
*****
THE YEAR-ON-YEAR GROWTH RATES OF ALL THE TRADE AGGREGATES ACCELERATED IN JULY 1986. THE VALUE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS IN JULY 1986, AT $14 270 MILLION, GREW BY 23.3 PER CENT OR $2 694 MILLION COMPARED WITH JULY 1985, WHILE THE VALUE OF RE-EXPORTS GREW BY 18.5 PER CENT OR $1 651 MILLION TO $10 564 MILLION, ACCORDING TO THE PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES PUBLISHED TODAY BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.
TAKING DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS TOGETHER, THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS, AT $24 834 MILLION, WAS 21.2 PER CENT OR $4 345 MILLION HIGHER THAN IN JULY 1985. THE VALUE OF IMPORTS GREW BY 28.1 PER CENT OR $5 300 MILLION OVER JULY 1985 TO REACH $24 160 MILLION.
AS THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS WAS GREATER THAN THAT OF IMPORTS, THE VISIBLE TRADE ACCOUNT RECORDED A SURPLUS OF $674 MILLION, WHICH WAS EQUIVALENT TO 2.8 PER CENT OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS, AGAINST A SURPLUS OF 8.6 PER CENT IN JULY 1985.
PUTTING THE MONTH'S TRADE FIGURES INTO CONTEXT A GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN POINTED OUT THAT THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS FOR THE FIRST SEVEN MONTHS OF 1986 WAS $143 240 MILLION, MADE UP OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS OF $79 644 MILLION AND RE-EXPORTS OF $63 596 MILLION.
/COMPARED WITH