Clothes are labeled. Most food is labeled. Even your car has its manufacturing country of origin stamped onto the door panel. Pharmaceuticals on the other hand, one of the biggest import items and certainly one most critical to our daily health safety and security, usually do not come with any labels at all.
Once year-ending 2025 trade data is released in February, we will be looking at another $1 trillion deficit. Assuming the monthly goods deficit for November and December looks like the low October goods deficit of $58.5 billion, the U.S. will record a minimum $1.17 trillion goods gap for 2025, the second largest trade deficit since 2024’s $1.2 trillion barnstormer.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) turns 50 years old this year, and it still has lots to learn. The main disruptor – China – has ultimately added new layers to CFIUS oversight, but this oversight is in its infancy.
The October trade deficit fell by 39% for goods and services combined, but even the goods deficit fell to monthly numbers not seen in at least five years. The October deficit in goods was $59.14 billion, down 24.5% from September, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Thursday.
China’s foray into the automotive industry makes perfect sense for any serious, powerful economy. Every major economic power has its own car brands. China has them now, in droves.
The U.S. goods deficit with China fell by roughly $2 billion in September, coming in at $15.03 billion. China has dropped to fourth place in terms of the countries in which the U.S. has its biggest goods gap.
China is beating the U.S. to the Moon, namely the dark side of the Moon we never see from Earth. It’s colder there. And darker. And China has the energy technologies they’ve invented themselves to make machines work there. We do not.
Democrats on the House Committee on Small Business kept to their year-long messaging that tariffs are raising costs and hurting companies. There were many interesting themes from the Nov. 20 hearing titled How Main Street is Revitalizing Domestic Manufacturing.
The Senate Special Committee on Aging was back at it this week discussing the woeful predicament of the domestic generic drug industry and its import-facing supply chain. This time, the Committee heard from four generic drug makers opposed to advocacy groups and Washington think tanks.
The August trade deficit fell a significant 23.8%, with exports flat and imports down 5% due in large part to the 90-day reprieve from the so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs expiring.
