<P> In the first quarter of 2010, overall U.S. merchandise exports increased by 20 percent compared to the first quarter of 2009, with manufactured goods exports increasing by 20 percent . As in 2009, the highest export commodities were transportation equipment, computer and electronic products, chemicals, machinery (except electrical), agricultural products, and miscellaneous manufactured commodities . </P> <P> In the first quarter of 2010, the primary markets for U.S. merchandise exports were Canada, Mexico, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, Brazil, the Netherlands, and Singapore . With the exception of the Netherlands, exports to all of these countries increased in the first quarter of 2010, compared to the same quarter in 2009 . Notably, exports to Canada increased by 22 percent, Mexico by 28 percent, and China by 47 percent over this period . Exports to the two NAFTA partners accounted for nearly one - third (32 percent) of U.S. merchandise trade in the first quarter of 2010 . </P> <P> The Economist reported in January 2017 that manufacturing historically created good paying jobs for workers without a college education, particularly for men . Unions were strong and owners did not want to risk strikes in their factories due to large capital investments . Such jobs are much less available in the post-1990 era in the U.S. and other developed countries, leading to calls to bring those jobs back from overseas, establish protectionism, and reduce immigration . Manufacturing continues to evolve, due to factors such as information technology, supply chain innovations such as containerization, companies un-bundling tasks that used to be in one location or business, reduced barriers to trade, and competition from low - cost developing countries such as China and Mexico . </P> <P> Manufacturing is conducted among globally distributed supply chains, with various stages of production conducted in different countries . For example, automotive parts may be manufactured in the U.S., shipped to Mexico for assembly, then sent back to the U.S. In some cases, the components of the final product cross the border multiple times . An estimated 40% of the value of U.S. imports from Mexico is from content produced in the U.S.; this figure is 25% for Canada but only 4% for China . This "production sharing" is an indication of the integrated nature of the supply chains between the U.S., Mexico and Canada in the NAFTA region . </P>

By what year did the united states become the worlds leading manufacturing nation