WASHINGTON — The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) today released a new study of the CPA Reshoring Index (CRI) showing domestic manufacturers’ market share in the domestic U.S. manufactured goods market. The CRI rose slightly from 69.4 in 2019 to 69.6 in 2020, indicating domestic producers met only 69.6% of total U.S. demand for manufactured goods. The other 30.4% of U.S. demand was met by imports. At the same time, the trade deficit in manufactured goods surged to $897.7 billion, its worst ever level, as exports fell more than imports. The CRI is the only comprehensive measure of the performance of the U.S. manufacturing sector in competition with U.S. imports.
“The CPA Reshoring Index is the only economic indicator that measures the success of U.S. manufacturers in their own market, the U.S. market,” said CPA Chief Economist and report author Jeff Ferry. “While the index edged up slightly in 2020, this was only because the COVID pandemic caused rolling shutdowns across much of global industry last year, and near-chaos in global shipping. Importers continue to take almost one third of the U.S. market, which represents a $2 trillion lost opportunity for U.S. manufacturers and their employees.”
The manufacturing sector has historically been an essential source of middle-class jobs for Americans. This new CRI report illustrates that restoring the health and growth of the U.S. manufacturing sector can create millions of manufacturing jobs and contribute to restoring American prosperity and addressing income inequality.
Read the 2020 CPA Reshoring Index here.
Key Takeaways
- The CRI rose slightly from 69.4 in 2019 to 69.6 in 2020, as U.S. producers took a slightly larger share of the U.S. manufacturing market. The CPA Reshoring Index (CRI) measures U.S. producers’ market share in the U.S. domestic market for manufactured goods. The improvement in the CRI reflects reductions in imports caused by the COVID shutdowns during 2020.
- The U.S. manufacturing trade deficit hit a new all-time high in 2020 of $897 billion, or 4.29% of GDP. The deficit was widespread across manufacturing. Of the 19 manufacturing sub-sectors, 16 were in deficit, including motor vehicles, computers, chemicals, and machinery.
- Since 2002, the CRI has fallen by 7.7 points, from 77.3 to 69.6, as importers have gained share across nearly every major manufacturing sector. This represents a loss of $524 billion of potential business in 2020 for U.S. producers in the U.S. manufacturing market.
- The total U.S. market for manufactured goods was worth $6.8 trillion last year. Contrary to claims that foreign markets are a priority, the huge U.S. market represents the largest opportunity for the vast majority of U.S. manufacturers. U.S. manufactured exports were just $1.17 trillion last year. Nations that cannot hold their home market do not succeed in foreign markets.
- The import penetration of China’s manufactured goods into the US market fell from a high of 7.7% in 2017 to 6.2% last year, demonstrating the success of China tariffs in making the U.S. less dependent on China. However, U.S. imports are increasing because other foreign nations are taking the place of China as a source of U.S. imports. The import penetration of the European Union, at 5.6% last year, could overtake China in the near future.
- Manufacturing output has fallen since 2002 in ten out of 19 sectors. Some of the largest declines are in apparel (-74%) and computers (-28%). The Durable Goods manufacturing sector output has declined 1.3% since 2002 despite growth of 40.3% in the U.S. economy since then. Manufacturing employment losses have been far larger than the losses in output.
