Many business people said they were surprised by student calls for boycotts of American goods.

Then their companies and consumers would buy more American goods.

A new study for the industry found that it bought $6.6 billion worth of American goods and generated 176,433 jobs in 1997.

A higher dollar would make American goods less competitive on world markets.

Help means allowing more American goods to enter this country.

Washington says the answer is foreign discrimination against American goods to protect their own industries.

At the same time, it makes American goods more expensive overseas.

And a huge potential market for American goods would dissipate.

But it is bad news to those who worry about the competitiveness of American goods in world markets.

American goods also face a distinct image problem in Japan.