A GLOBAL ECONOMY

Today's economy is global. We live in an era in which information, goods and capital speed around the globe, every hour of every day. Whether we like it or not, all of our fortunes are tied together. We are truly interdependent.

America supports international trade because we believe fundamentally that trade will enrich those nations who embrace its discipline. The great promise of trade is its potential to promote mutual prosperity and to strengthen the bonds between sovereign nations.

The U.S. and China both demonstrate the potential of trade to improve the lives of our people. You know better than I the great achievements of the Chinese economy over the past two decades. In 1977,the sum total of Chinese exports and imports was less than $ 15 billion, putting China's share of world trade at 0.6 percent. The most populous country in the world, China ranked a distant 30th among exporting nations. By 1993 China's exports and imports totaled nearly $ 200 billion. China had become the world's tenth largest exporter.

Since 1978,when China began opening its economy to increased foreign investment and trade, aggregate output has more than doubled. The strongest growth has occurred in the coastal areas near Hong Kong and opposite Taiwan, where foreign investment and modern production methods have spurred production of both domestic and export goods. Per capita GNP has grown at an average rate of 7.6% from 1980-1992.

The numbers are interesting, but how has this affected the people of China? In the last decade, telephone connections rose more than 60%.Electrical production more than doubled to 621 million kilowatt hours. In short, China has improved the economic well being of its people.

The people of the United States also have experienced the benefits of world trade. Since World War II, the U.S. has been the world's largest economy and, in most years, the world's largest exporter.

But the importance of trade in our economy has exploded in the past three decades.In1970, the value of two-way trade was equal to just 13% of the U.S. economy. Last year, that figure, at 28%,was more than twice as high. In just the last seven years, jobs supported by U.S. exports(goods and services)have risen by 4 million, to a total of 11 million. That's almost one out of ten American jobs. Last year U.S. trade equaled $1.8 trillion dollars.

Nor is the importance of trade likely to diminish for either China or the United States. China will continue to depend upon lucrative export markets to earn the foreign exchange it needs to develop and grow. At the same time, China's imports will supply the much needed machinery and technology to fuel its continued development.

For the United States, new commercial opportunities will grow most rapidly in the emerging markets. We estimate that three quarters of new export opportunities over the next twenty years-that's an incredible $1.9 trillion in potential exports-will come in the emerging markets of Asia and Latin America. This means jobs for American workers and a higher standard of living for the American people.