U.S.-JAPAN TRADE ACCORD : Fact Sheet

Although exports to Japan by the Big Three U.S. auto manufacturers--General Motors, Ford and Chrysler--have increased in the past eight years, they represent a fraction of the 4.2 million vehicles sold in Japan in 1993:

Car Exports by Big Three U.S. automakers to Japan ‘93: 56,741 * Experts credit the enormous jump in exports between 1989 and 1990 to market fluctuations and a changing relationship between the yen and the dollar.

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Made in U.S.A. . . . Sort of

Transplants, or Japanese cars built in the U.S., comprise roughly half of the 23.5% portion of the U.S. auto market claimed by Japan in 1994. Although they are built here, transplants are manufactured mostly of parts imported from Japan (in millions):

1) Japanese transplants sold

2) Japanese car imports sold

3) Total vehicles sold in U.S.

1 2 3 1990 1.1 1.7 13.9 1991 1.1 1.5 12.3 1992 1.2 1.4 12.9 1993 1.3 1.3 13.9 1994 1.4 1.2 15.1

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Behind on Auto Parts

Despite gains by the U.S. in 1994, Japanese auto parts exported to America outnumbered U.S. auto parts to Japan by a ratio of nearly 11 to 1.

Japanese Auto Parts Exports to the United States (in billions of dollars) ‘94: $14.567 ****

U.S. auto parts exports to Japan (in billions of dollars) ‘94: $1.34

Sources: Bureau of Census, American Automobile Manufacturers Assn., Automotive News, Times reports.

Researched by DAVID NEIMAN and JENNIFER OLDHAM / Los Angeles Times