Letter to the editor.

The headline about Wal-Mart importing more than manufacturers export is wildly inaccurate (MTN, June 18, 2004). About half of manufactured imports come here in containers, but only about one quarter of our manufactured exports leave here in containers. About 35 percent of our exports go by air, and another 38 percent via other means, such as trucks or self-propelled exports such as airplanes. Secondly, the "junk on the high seas" gives the false impression that most of what we export is low value. In 2003, 63 percent of U.S. manufactured exports were comprised of transportation equipment, computers and electronic products, machinery and intermediate/final chemical products--40 percent of which was pharmaceuticals and other medicines.

--David Huether, Chief Economist, National Association of Manufacturers