I nternational trade in services is a burgeoning opportunity for U.S. business; For the nation, it is a way to offset the persistent cleficit in the trade of merchandise. The United States is the world leader in the service market, followed at some clistance by France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan. General superiority in telecommunications networks and services is a majol factor in the U.S. position. Trade in services is likely to grow steadily during the next decacle, ancl its reliance on telecommunications will increase. For the Unitecl States, the export of services is assuming increasing importance. Our export of services is now only one-third as large as our export of goods, but it is growing much more quickly, with a 41 percent increase in three years-from about $119 billion in 1989 to $168 billion in 1992. Here the country has a healthy and growing positive trade balance: $52 I%llion in 1991, ancl $59 I%llion in 1992, compared to a 1992 merchandise trade deficit of about $105 billion. The Figure gives some idea of the growth and significance to the United States of the export of services. These numbers do not include services delivered by U.S. subsidiaries or joint ventures abroacl, which in most years at least equals in volume direct cross-border transactions. The United States enjoys a favorable tracle balance in this category as well, with a surplus of $11 billion in 1991 and $8.5 billion the previous year. Most trade in services-a $700 billion world market in 1991, and growing rapidly-occurs among OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Devebpmen0 countries. Europe is by far the largest market for U.S. services, absorbing about 72 percent of U.S. sales of services in 1991. Various pressures and forces promise cm open global telecommunications market by the end of the century, A primary reason for this growth in trade in services is the proliferation of niultinalional corporations (MNCs), which increasingly outsource many of the services they need in facilities around the globe. Other driving forces are the aclvancing integration of regional and global markets, the opening up of foreign markets formerly closed to outside competition, and the spread of international telecommunications networks. Access to foreign markets for services should widen steadily over the next decade. A successful conclusion to the floundering GAlT negotiations would be a major step toward this end; progress in the integration of a single European market represents another driver. The most powerful force for change, however, may be the growing political clout of transnational enterprises, which are increasingly impatient with regulatory resistance and “bureaucratic barriers.” The European International Telecommunications Users Group (INTUG) is pressing national governments and the European Community Commission (EEC) to deregulate and open telecommunications services to competition. A German bank official, noting persistent difficulties in obtaining lines capable of fast data transmission, complains, “This situation has to be comparecl with the options available to U.S. firms in their domestic markets [where] . . . channels can be obtained at prices designed to encourage the experimentation and learning needed to inte-
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Open Access
Mar 1, 2003
Andr� J Duerinckx 
