TRANSPORTATION - BTS - Bureau of Transportation Statistics

India and South Korea, and were as low as 2 percent in Indonesia (figure 4-1). However, by1997, manufactured goods exceeded 70 percent of exports in seven of these eight countries.The exception was Indonesia, where manufactured goods grew from 2 percent to an amazing42 percent of exports by 1997 [World Bank 1999].Recognizing the need for a bolder vision to realize a trulyglobal transport system, Transportation Secretary RodneySlater hosted two international conferences in 1999 and 2000:Aviation in the 21 st Century – Beyond Open Skies Ministerial,in Chicago, and the International Transportation Symposium,in Washington, DC. Each attended by representatives frommore than 90 countries, these conferences created an environmentconducive to addressing global challenges of the comingdecades.“Transportation is theindustry that connects otherindustries...it is the key toglobalization.”Lawrence H. SummersSecretary, U.S. Department of TreasuryInternational Transportation SymposiumWashington, DCOct. 10, 2000Growth of the Global EconomyThe world’s economy has grown enormously, with the sum of all nations’ Gross NationalProduct (GNP) rising from $1.3 trillion in 1960 to $29 trillion in 1997 [Worldwatch Institute2000a]. During the same period, the Gross World Product (GWP) increased from $10 trillionand $37 trillion and exports’ share of the GWP grew from 7 percent to 15 percent [WorldwatchInstitute 2000b]. Today, the transportation sector represents 11 percent of the overall U.S.Gross Domestic Product and accounts for “1 in 7” jobs in the U.S. economy.This pattern was evident in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce(USDOC), in the last 25 years, U.S. imports and exports grew from $726 billion in 1975 to $2.6trillion in 1999 —well over 300 percent (figure 4-2). Transportation equipment was the secondlargest import sector in 1998, accounting for 19 percent of all U.S. merchandise imports[USITC 1999].China, with which we had limited trade in 1975, is now our fourth largest trading partner,surpassed only by Canada, Japan, and Mexico (table 4-1). South Korea, Singapore, andTaiwan have joined the top 10 list of U.S. trading partners. Iran, the Netherlands, andVenezuela have dropped from the top 10 list.Figure 4-2Imports and Exports as a Percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP):1975 and 1999 (Chained 1996 $)Billions of U.S. dollars3,0002,5002,0001,5001,00050018 percentof GDP30 percentof GDPForeign investment paymentsReceiptsService importsService exportsGoods importsGoods exports01975 1999 (preliminary)4-2Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, International Transactions Account,available at http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/dil.htm, as of May 5, 2000.