Bicycle imports slumped by 33% last year as American consumers cut back spending in the wake of the pandemic bike boom. Yet imports continue to dominate the U.S. market, with China as the largest source of imported bikes. Import market share rose slightly last year, reaching 97.8%, up from 97.5% in 2021. The U.S. bicycle…
Key Points Global current account imbalances (consisting mostly of trade) increased in 2021, the most recent data available. As a percentage of world GDP, total imbalances reached 3.6%, equivalent to $3.3 trillion. Imbalances have worsened during the pandemic and the post-pandemic period, driven by rising goods trade flows, mainly from Asia to North America. Persistent…
New monthly index tracks currency misalignment based on latest market rates Dollar is 11.2% overvalued Japanese yen 27.7% undervalued Chinese yuan 18.9% undervalued CMM is a partnership between the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) and the Blue Collar Dollar Institute (BCDI). Today we are launching our Currency Misalignment Monitor (CMM). The CMM uses the…
Key Points The U.S. goods trade deficit ballooned to $1.19 trillion in 2022, an increase of 9% from the previous year. This is a U.S. and world record. Imports of electronic goods, machinery & appliances, and vehicles account for more than half of the trade deficit. While China continues to be the leading source of…
Key Points China ran a record-high trade surplus in 2022 of $878 billion, equivalent to about 4.8% of its GDP. China continues to rely on beggar-thy-neighbor export growth reliance. Last year China exports grew 7% while the domestic Chinese economy only grew at 3%, indicating that despite the talk in Beijing, China has not meaningfully…
Key Points Products manufactured in Mexico contain an increasing amount of Chinese value. Foreign direct investment by Chinese firms in Mexico is up 276%, averaging $225 million annually, compared to investment prior to the U.S. imposition of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods. Chinese investment in Mexico means manufactured goods in Mexico will contain an…
Key Points Steel imports from Mexico have surged over the past several years. U.S. steel imports from Mexico have risen by 141% over historic levels, with some subcategories of imports tripling and quadrupling, despite a 2019 U.S.-Mexico agreement to maintain steel imports at past levels. The surge in steel imports in Mexican steel conduit, used…
Key Points U.S. pharmaceutical imports have skyrocketed in the last ten years, with imports from China, India and Mexico leading the surge. India and China are increasingly the leading U.S. source for generic pharmaceuticals, which account for 90% of all prescriptions written in the U.S. In 2021, China was the leading source for U.S. pharmaceutical…
There is a growing consensus in the U.S. and many other advanced economies that we must move away from globalization, and towards more localized economies, less reliant on global supply chains or untrustworthy countries for vital goods. Many can see the necessity for greater localization, but can’t imagine what it will look like. Will it…
A little-noticed speech by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo last week was a rousing endorsement of industrial strategy by a senior Biden administration official as the way forward for the U.S. economy. Raimondo minced no words as she called for the private sector and America’s educational institutions to join the fight to position the U.S. as…
