U.S. and Foreign Competition in the Developing Countries of the Asian Pacific Rim

This paper examines changes since the early 1960s in the export shares of the United States and its major competitors in the markets of the developing countries of the Asian Pacific Rim (APR), defined to include Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and China. A technique for revealing a country's factor-price advantages or disadvantages in its trade with another country is also used to analyze the U.S. comparative cost position relative to the countries of the region. Among the findings are that the U.S. export share in the APR market has remained roughly constant over the period and that the United States has a relative factor-price advantage with all the developing countries of the region in physical capital and skilled labor and- a disadvantage in unskilled labor. For land and natural resources, the picture is mixed. The competitive performance of these developing countries in the markets of the United States, Canada, Japan, the European Community, Australia and New Zealand, and in the region itself is also studied, revealing the familiar result that the developing countries of the region and Japan have increased their market shares significantly since the 1960s. In addition, the volume and distribution of U.S. and Japanese direct investment in the Asian Pacific Rim is examined.