ABSTRACT
As yet quite small – both in relative and absolute terms – Japanese manufacturing direct investment in the European Economic Community (EC) is growing very rapidly indeed. At the end of March 1988 the value of such investment 1 was $6 billion which amounted to only 9.2 per cent of all Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) in manufacturing industry and 25.4 per cent of investment in the US. The corresponding direct investment stake by US multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the EC in December 1987 was $64.9 billion, 51.2 per cent of all US direct investment. Moreover the estimated value of sales of Japanese manufacturing affiliates was only about 20 per cent of direct exports to Europe from Japan. The corresponding percentage for US affiliates was closer to 500 per cent.
