The limping U.S. economy may get some assistance from an unlikely source. Overseas demand, says one news source, is through a lifeline to a U.S. economy "weighed down by the housing slump and weak business investment.”

In fact, for the first time in more than a decade, trade this year may contribute to growth instead of taking from it.

Had it not been for the rest of the world, the U.S. economy might be seriously floundering, said one expert.

That’s a major change from the economic trends over the last 40 years. At one time, opined Bloomberg.com, the U.S. "powered” the world economy through financial crises elsewhere but gained little power from abroad when consumer demand turned weak domestically.

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Now, said the expert, "when the U.S. sneezes, the rest of the world goes shopping.”

What’s changed? For one thing, said the news source, the housing slump that’s dragging down demand in the U.S. is having little discernable impact beyond the U.S. At the same time, other world economies are generating enough demand on their own to shore up growth elsewhere.

Even so, the U.S. still accounts for a fifth of the global economy and is its biggest importer, so the U.S. housing recession could still wind up affecting other countries.

Even though the importance of the U.S. market has diminished, stated an International Monetary Fund report, there’s still danger of "spillover” from a slowdown in the world’s largest economy because so many companies and investors in the rest of the world have ties to American businesses and markets.

So far, Bloomberg.com observed, there’s been little indication of weakness in major economies outside the U.S. The 13 nations that share the euro are being buoyed by record low unemployment and the highest consumer confidence in six years. Japan’s economy is also extending its longest expansion since World War II.

Also, emerging markets such as China and Brazil are coming into their own with consumer and capital spending last year growing twice the rate of developed nations. Persian Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are investing billions of dollars earned from higher oil prices.

That’s helping some U.S. companies build export sales to compensate for weaker domestic demand, offer Bloomberg.com.

"A relative shift in trend growth rates ought to be positive for the world economy,” one economist was quoted as saying.

Editor's note:
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