Trade: West Germany v. Japan

If World War II had ended differently, Germany and Japan today might be waging a cold war for military-political supremacy in other countries. Instead, their rivalry is commercial. Thanks to the first postwar "economic miracle," the Germans got a long head start in penetrating world export markets. Even in 1968, West Germany's total exports of almost $25 billion were nearly double Japan's exports of not quite $13 billion. But generally lower-priced Japanese goods have been slicing into the German lead so sharply in so many areas of the world that some Germans...

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