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When Toyota's Crown sedan was first exported to the U.S. in 1957, it cost US$1,900, about half the price of a competing GM model. Before the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, American consumers considered Japanese products to be synonymous with cheap. But Japanese manufacturers succeeded in winning over Americans, thanks to competitive prices for the first 10 years, and superior quality for the next 10 years. Japanese goods dominated the American market until the early 1990s, when they lost their export competitiveness due to the strong yen.
¢ºLast Christmas the Earth Policy Institute, an American environmental organization, published a report entitled "Santa Claus Is Chinese, Or, Why China Is Rising and the United States Is Declining." The report claimed that 80 to 90 percent of the Christmas gifts that Americans exchanged were made in China -- including Barbie dolls, video games, cashmere sweaters, track suits and even Christmas trees. According to the report, in 2005 the U.S. spent $130 million on Chinese Christmas trees and another $1 billion on Chinese light bulbs and decorations to put on those trees.
¢ºSara Bongiorni, an American journalist, recently published a book called "A Year Without 'Made in China'". It describes Bongiorni's "painful" year of trying to live in the U.S. without using any Chinese products. It turned out to be nearly impossible to stick to the rule, as everything from shoes to mousetraps are made in China, she says. She had to dump some home appliances once they broke because their components were made in China, too. Eventually she concluded that she just couldn't live without Chinese imports.
¢ºAccording to statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce, China is the source of about 80 percent of America's clothing and footwear and 60 to 80 percent of its home appliances, toys, CDs and video game devices. For last year's Fourth of July celebrations, the U.S. spent $5.3 million to buy Stars and Stripes flags made in foreign countries, 90 percent of which came from China. To fight back some Americans have started a campaign to promote American-made flags. The State of Minnesota on Sunday passed a law requiring all U.S. flags sold in the state to be made in the U.S. Violators can be fined up to US$1,000 or imprisoned for 90 days. Arizona, Tennessee, and New Jersey are considering similar legislation.
¢ºUntil the mid-1990s Chinese products accounted for just two to three percent of the goods sold in the U.S. But in 2002 China outdistanced Japan, which had dominated the U.S. market for 20 years. A year ago, Chinese products had a 16 percent share of the American market, double the share of Japanese goods. Korean products had maintained a four percent market share until the mid-1990s, but that figure dropped to 2.5 percent in 2006, putting Korea in seventh place. Now Korea looks like it will be bested in the U.S. by India, too. It doesn't seem likely that Korean goods will ever gain any more ground in the U.S. market, unfortunately.
This column was contributed by Chosun Ilbo in-house columnist Lee June.
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