CEE, Etats-Unis, Japon : une comparaison de leurs commerces extérieurs

In: Revue de l'OFCE, Band 20, Heft 1, S. 101-147

Abstract

The External Trade of the EEC, Japan and the United States : A Comparison Division de l'environnement international du département des diagnostics de l'OFCE The three main poles of world trade are the European Economic Community regarded here as a whole (i.e. after excluding the internal trade between its twelve members), the United States and Japan. The EEC remains the first exporter in spite of the Japanese breakthrough. As far as imports are concerned the United States overtook the Community in 1984 which from then has been in the second position. The EEC directs much less its trade towards the industrialized countries than the other two do. The Community is indeed much more linked to its geographical and economic environment, which can be defined as the remainder of the European continent plus Africa and the Middle East. This area of influence enabled the EEC to record in 1986 (and for the first time in twenty years) an overall trade surplus. The EEC has succeeded in maintaining its market shares on its priviledged zone while the US have managed to avoid any reduction in theirs on their own area of influence. Therefore the buoyancy of Japan and the NIC's have not yet been able to evict the EEC and the US from their respective traditional outlets. However Japan and the NIC's broke through in other ways. They successfully competed with the US on the European area of influence and with the EEC on the United States'. Besides they increased their market shares both in Europe and in the United States. So far the Community has achieved relatively better results in controlling the import growth than it has in promoting exports. Therefore the European external surplus appears frail especially at a time when the dollar exchange rate is low and when the European market is more and more regarded by the US and the Asian countries as the most attractive outlet for the years to come.