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.
The current cost-of-living crisis – defined by the soaring cost of essential services – is not the result of excessive consumer demand or short-term inflation shocks. It is the product of decades of trade and industrial policy choices that weakened middle-class wage growth.
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 affordability crisis is primarily a result of price increases in five major sectors of consumer spending: housing, food, health care, child care, and energy. In none of those sectors are tariffs a significant factor.
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 Commerce Department should look to 7 C.F.R. Part 6 as a terrific example of how USDA has ensured that quota allocation benefits domestic manufacturers, not speculators.
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.
