Until the 1970s, the value of exported goods from the U.S. greatly outpaced the value of imported goods entering the country. This changed as many U.S. businesses saw increased competition from companies in foreign countries like Japan, Germany, and South Korea. These countries were allies who had received economic aid from the U.S. as part of an American effort to bolster capitalist economies in the beginning of the Cold War. By the 1970s, these countries deployed innovative business tactics and more modern manufacturing technologies to produce high quality cars, steel, and other goods—often at cheaper prices than those offered by American companies. In the garment and shoe industries, a central competitive advantage was the low wages of workers in countries that were poorer than the U.S. These trends threatened American jobs and frustrated American workers, as shown in this 1977 episode of The MacNeil/Lehrer Report, which surveys the rise of imports in various industries and features an interview with U.S. trade representative Robert Strauss. As Strauss indicates in the excerpt, the U.S. government was reluctant to raise tariffs on foreign imports—and thus raise consumer prices—during a time of high inflation.