Trade Route

6:00 PM -- With several North American vendors working more closely with their Chinese counterparts, I thought I'd have a look back at how much telecom equipment we've been importing in recent years.

Well, the news ain't good, according to the most recent available data from the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA):

In 2003, the United States posted a $17.5 billion telecommunications equipment trade deficit, the largest in recent years. Over the last five years, U.S. trade deficits in telecommunications equipment totaled $53.2 billion. By contrast, in 1994–99, the United States posted an average $3.4 billion surplus. The trade balance reversed in 1999, as imports increased 43 percent to surpass exports... Exports declined 14.1 percent in 2003 while imports increased 4.5 percent, leading to a $17.5 billion deficit, the worst in the last 10 years.

Essay question: How the heck do we fix that?

— Phil Harvey, Exports Editor, Light Reading