Bloomberg.com: Europe, Japan Wean Themselves From Dependence on U.S. Consumers - by Shobhana Chandra and Matthew Benjamin

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Europe, Japan Wean Themselves From Dependence on U.S. Consumers - by Shobhana Chandra and Matthew Benjamin

Europe, Japan and emerging economies around the world are weaning themselves from dependence on the American consumer, and economists say it's just in time. Demand in the world's largest economy is slowing as the U.S. housing market falters, a development that the International Monetary Fund on Sept. 14 called a key risk to global expansion. If so, it's a risk that the biggest exporting nations are better prepared to weather now than five years ago.``Domestic demand in so many other parts of the world is picking up,'' says Jim O'Neill, head of global economic research at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in London. ``If there ever was a good time for the U.S. to slow, this is it.''

The share of global exports purchased by U.S. consumers and businesses fell to 17.9 percent in 2005 from 21.8 percent in 2000 as demand increased in the European Union, Japan and emerging markets in Asia and Eastern Europe. Exporting nations in Europe and Asia are poised to grab a larger share of world markets with trade agreements that don't include the U.S.