Definition of "in the long term" []

• After a very long time; eventually; over a long period of time; more generally. (adverb)

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• "While the quotas were useful in sending a signal to the Japanese that foreign manufacturing would be necessary in the long term at a time when currencies were sending just the opposite message in the short term, they generated massive profits for the Japanese companies to use in financing their direct-investment campaigns in North America and Europe."