The war against terror and major media events will continue to impact on the US economy next year, says Industrial Truck Association (ITA) president Jim Moran.

The ITA President's Forum, the highlight of its annual meeting, held from October 30 to November 2, focused on corporate and military events and their impact on the general health of the materials handling industry in the US and worldwide.

Media exposure of spectacular bankruptcies such as Enron and WorldCom had caused consumer confidence to drift downward, Mr Moran said.

"Since consumer purchases make up about two-thirds of the US economy, this downward trend is critical and alarming. The trend needs to be carefully watched by any company doing business in the USA," he said.

Despite the negative impact on the economy at large, the forklift industry had seen an upward trend in received orders.

"As anticipated, the first quarter started out down, as a carry over from the last quarter of 2001. The second quarter had a 13.5 percent increase in bookings over 2001, and the third quarter had a 24.8 percent increase," Mr Moran said.

While analysts believed the USA would not slide into a "double dip recession, it will be a slow climb and we will all have to be patient". Consumer confidence would gradually return if there were improvements in the stock market, a lessening in the unemployment rate, and if the housing market remained strong, Mr Moran said.

The Canadian economy had grown independent of the US economy, which was expected to continue in 2003, but the Mexican economy had remained tied to the US, with inflation running high, and the value of the peso decreasing against the US dollar.