The US could face an annual trade deficit of more than $225 billion in
electronics and lose more than two million jobs a year by 2010 if it fails to
develop strong HDTV and flat-display screen industries. The trade deficit
under a weak HDTV scenario, where the US industry takes only ten percent
of the world market, would be $227 billion in the year 2010 for just four
electronics industries: HDTV receivers and VCRs, personal computers,
semiconductors and automated manufacturing equipment. The main
contributors to this enormous trade deficit would be the personal computer
and semiconductor industries, which would suffer estimated deficits of $114
billion and $76 billion, respectively.