IMPORTS

Imports are goods and services that are brought from the country in which they are produced into another country for use by its people. Examples of goods that have been imported into the United States include oil from the Middle East, cars from Japan, wine from France, and bananas and coffee from South America. There are thousands of other imported goods, ranging from raw materials to finished products like computers, clothing, and jet aircraft.

Imports play an important role in the economy of virtually all modern industrial nations. In many leading industrial nations, 20 percent or more of all money spent was used for buying something produced in another country. The United States is one of the world's leading importing countries, which enables citizens to buy a wide range of goods and services.

Imports give citizens a broader range of products to choose, but they can be a source of political anxiety as well. Laborers who rely on sales of domestic-made products for job protection may complain that their fellow citizens are spending money on foreign-made products when similar products may be produced domestically. The higher the amount of imports, the greater the number of jobs that may be lost to foreign workers. In the 1970s for example, U.S. auto and steelworkers were losing jobs while record levels of foreign-made cars and steel were being imported to the United States. This anxiety led to calls for protectionist legislation—laws that restricted the flow of goods into a nation. Another source of anxiety from imports is the fear that one nation may develop too great a dependence on foreign goods. In the 1970s for example, Middle Eastern oil producers were able to create widespread shortages of gasoline and other energy products in the United States by temporarily halting oil shipments to the United States.