1307 



poses they have in mind. John K, Cooley, Middle East correspondent 

 for The Christian Science Monitor^ reporting on the Algiers confer- 

 ence of the non-aligned LDCs, wrote that the delegates represented 

 countries that "contain over half the world's oil and two-thirds of most 

 of its other vital resources." *°^ The 1973 report of the U.S. National 

 Commission on Materials Policy stated : "The less developed regions 

 of the world have held the principal sources of materials imported by 

 industrial countries." ^°" 



According to C. Fred Bergsten, senior fellow at Brookings Institu- 

 tion, four countries control more than 80 percent of the exportable 

 supply of world copper ; two countries account for more than 70 per- 

 cent of world tin exports, and four countries raise the total close to 95 

 percent; four countries produce more than 50 percent of the world 

 supply of Jiatural rubber; four possess over one-half the supply of 

 bauxite (the inclusion of Australia raises the total above 90 percent) ; 

 a few countries are coming to dominate each of the regional markets 

 for timber, said to be a truly vanishing resource. "A wide range of 

 Third World countries thus have sizeable potential for strategic mar- 

 ket power," concludes Mr. Bergsten.^"^ Secretary of State William P. 

 Rogers recorded in his 1972 foreign policy report to Congress that the 

 "known reserves" of many minerals are located in the LDCs. Peru, 

 Chile, Zambia, and Zaire, he said, supply most of the world's export- 

 able copper. Malaysia, Bolivia, and Thailand account for 70 percent of 

 the tin in international trade.^°* The Materials Policy report produced 

 a table showing the significance of mineral exports in 1968. Export 

 of minerals from the LDCs accounted for 46.1 percent of total exports ; 

 the proportion in the case of the more developed countries was only 

 15.7 percent. In Latin America alone mineral exports accounted for 

 39.1 percent of total exports ; in Africa, for 48.6 percent ; and in Asia, 

 for 15.5 percent.^°^ 



Growing U.S. Dependency on Mineral Imports. — In the last 60 years 

 the direction and dimensions of the import/export of materials by the 

 United States has changed "dramatically" — in the words of the Mate- 

 rials Policy report.^"^ "While both imports and exports of materials 

 increased," the report said, "imports expanded more rapidly to the 

 point where the United States imports 15 percent of minerals con- 

 sumed and 8 percent of forest products consumed." ^^^ In 1973, the 

 United States had a deficit of some $7 billion. Elburt F. Osbom, until 

 last year director of the Bureau of Mines, warned shortly before leav- 

 ing office that if present trends in mineral uses continue, the U.S. deficit 

 could approach a rate of $100 billion a year.^°® In the meantime, he 

 predicted "cutthroat competition on a global scale." ^°^ According to 

 Secretary Rogers, United States imports of energy fuels and minerals 



*'i John K. Cooley, "Nonalipned Nations Aim for 'New World Order' " The Christian 

 Science Monitor, Sept. 8, 1973, p. 3. 



^2 National Commission on Materials Policy, Material Needs and the Environment Today 

 and Tomorrow, Final report, 1973, pp. 9—11. (Hereafter cited as, National Commission 

 on Materials Policy, Final Report, 1973.) 



»3C. Fred Bergsten, "the Threat from the Third World," Foreign Policy 11, (Summer 

 1973) pp. 107-108. 



^* Secretary of State Roger's Foreign Policy Report to Congress of 1972, 1973, p. 43. 



*^ National Commission on Materials Policy, Final Report, 1973, pp. 9-13. 



8o«Ibid, pp. 9-11. 



M' Ibid. 



*>* Carroll Kilpatrlck, "Arab Example Worries Officials : Crisis in Minerals Is Feared," 

 The Washington Post, Jan. 14, 1974, p. Al. 



800 Ibid. 



