Council of Great Lakes Governors - Industrial Heartland for a Global Economy North America's High Performance Heartland Industrial Heartland for a Global Economy A Global Reorientation For decades, the Great Lakes economy was among the most inwardly focused in North America, rising and falling cyclically with U.S. consumer demand for durable goods. This inward focus contributed to the wrenching dislocation of the 1970s and early 1980s, as foreign producers made inroads into U.S. and Canadian markets. Recovery is due, in large part, to the broadening regional economic focus that has accompanied the high-performance revolution. The Great Lakes region is experiencing significant net export growth. Export trade from the Great Lakes states for 1989 to 1990 grew twice as fast as the U. S. national rate of export growth.
Export trade is critical to the region's wealth and employing generation.
Furthermore, production within the region is internationally integrated. The region is a center for multinational production, with 30 percent of the U.S. manufacturing employment created by foreign investment, and with countless ventures and alliances linking Great Lakes companies to Canada, Europe, Mexico, and Asia. The revitalization of steel serves as a key example. Contrary to fears about possible negative impacts from foreign investment, this investment helped maintain the Great Lakes region as a center for steel production and has resulted in significant steel exports. International joint-venture strategies are especially successful in creating mutual benefits.