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6 - Exporting Wonders

from Part II - Making Miracles, 1950–1973

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2024

Raymond G. Stokes
Affiliation:
University of Glasgow
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Summary

West Germans and the Japanese became increasingly proficient during the first quarter-century after 1945 at manufacturing things and selling them abroad. This translated by the 1970s into growing balance of trade surpluses with much of the rest of the world, especially the United States and UK. But there was a puzzle in terms of perceptions, in the United States in particular: US trade deficits with the two countries posed similar levels of political and economic risk. Yet, it was the Japanese who became the primary target of the wrath of the Americans because the US trade deficit with Japan by that time was larger than that with Germany, even though that diverted attention from a much more important problem, the loss of US manufacturing markets to German competition in third countries; Americans viewed the Japanese domestic market as far less open than Germany’s; and Japanese exports to the United States were highly visible. German exports tended to flow directly to manufacturers of other things, thus rendering them largely invisible. The growing prominence of Japanese products and names in highly visible sectors such as consumer electronics and motorcycles led to the conclusion that the Japanese were unfairly eroding American industrial dominance.

Type
Chapter
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Ruins to Riches
The Economic Resurgence of Germany and Japan after 1945
, pp. 112 - 136
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Exporting Wonders
  • Raymond G. Stokes, University of Glasgow
  • Book: Ruins to Riches
  • Online publication: 12 April 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009083669.009
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  • Exporting Wonders
  • Raymond G. Stokes, University of Glasgow
  • Book: Ruins to Riches
  • Online publication: 12 April 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009083669.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Exporting Wonders
  • Raymond G. Stokes, University of Glasgow
  • Book: Ruins to Riches
  • Online publication: 12 April 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009083669.009
Available formats
×