AMERICA’S FOREIGN TRADE.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 August 1925, Page 1

AMERICA’S FOREIGN TRADE.

A rcjmitL prepared by the I nii**tl States 1 At■ jv:i 1-1 men! of Commerce upon the country's foreign trade in I A'-’I -hows lii.it the apparent excess o| <■» ports of Llitt;,(»()(t.titlO tras almost coinplotoly rxt ingilished v. la’ll " invisible imports wort* taken into account. Iho increasing importance oi the “invisible” items is shown liv the tact that fro in 1 SO: J to lid I those on the credit side were equivalent to S per cent, of the recorded exports, while those on the ilc*!iit side were equal to li.'i per cent, of the imports in 11)21. they nrs reckoned at 22 per cent, of the exports and til per rent, of the imports. And their nature has changed mure than their magnitude. Smuggled liquors, for example, constitute a new invisible item of low visibility actually and < oinplately so. statistically. However. Mr Hoover estimates this item at CM.0110.(;00. The largest single item in the invisible list is an estimated net expenditure by American tourists abroad of 2100,Out).000. hast year .'122,000 American tourists travelled abroad. Besides the tourists, Americans who live abroad are estimated to spend 20,000,000 a year. The next Impost item is made up of remittances to relatives abroad liv ligranls to the I’nited States. This is Estimated at L'OtI.OOO.ttOO a rear. For ocean freights Mr Hoover estimates an actual net excess ol American payments of .21,000,000, However, as Mr Hoover says, “it should he constantly borne m mind that in calculations of this character, dependmp so largely on estimates, there is always the possibility id errors, although there is a tendency for some of these to neutralise each other.”