The shortages also drew in larger volumes of oil imports. Up through 1947, American exports of oil exceeded imports. But now the balance shifted; in 1948 imports of crude oil and products together exceeded exports for the first time. No longer could the United States continue its historical role as supplier to the rest of the world. Now it was dependent on other countries for that marginal barrel, and an ominous new phrase was being heard more often in the American vocabulary—“foreign oil.”
