EU prices for manufactured goods imports from China resumed sharp annual declines this year so the double digit increases in the value of imports from China mask even larger rises in volume terms. With China's largest export market behind a tariff wall, others have to soak it up.
Too bad the bill that passed the House preserves the incentive to move profits and production out of the US -- it is one of the biggest own goals in tax policy in the last 20 years.
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The April 2025 trade data should be taken seriously, but not literally. The headline reduction is a function of less tariff front running.
Imports of pharmaceuticals fell $26b v March ($50b to $24b)
Imports of metal shapes (gold bars) fell $17b ($21b to $4b)
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Of course - China would say it didn’t care that there was an embargo on Chinese goods by it’s #1 customer but a 1trn surplus country with manufacturing share of GDP key to investment and consumption & indirect sector like services would care.
Why? Factories shut first (impact on China), shortages/empty shelves later (impact on the US & due to front loading much later & most goods are discretionary), & so the pain that China feels from trade war is real while the US is expectations of pain via financial assets movement, which may or may not come.