TRADE DEFICIT

Trump prepares opening moves on trade

Following his inauguration on Monday, President Donald Trump set his sights on a dramatic restructuring of global trade, with an aim to impose significant tariffs on key trading partners — Canada, Mexico and the European Union among them.

These actions mark a continuation of his campaigning on an “America First” agenda, aiming to reduce trade deficits and boost domestic manufacturing. The rollout and potential impacts of these tariffs, however, have instilled a mix of optimism and uncertainty...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trump-prepares-opening-moves-on-trade

Globalized trade vs. US protectionism: Round 2

With the global freight industry bracing for a tectonic shift in trade dynamics, President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff proposals are top of mind for shippers and other logistics professionals.

Trump plans to implement tariffs of 10% (at minimum) on imports from China and to enact 25% duties on goods from Mexico and Canada. How will the industry react to trade muscles that have not been flexed in nearly a century — well before the novelties of containerization and GPS?

The tip of the spear

Trump’s...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/globalized-trade-vs-us-protectionism-round-2

How I learned to stop worrying and love the tariff

With a second administration under Donald Trump now a guarantee, much talk has been devoted to tariffs and the economic harm they threaten to inflict on the U.S.

But in “A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System,” Stephan Miran makes a compelling case that — contrary to popular belief — tariffs can achieve a multitude of aims without causing inflation or market volatility.

The downside? The path to effective tariff implementation is narrow and difficult to travel, with many risks...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-tariff

Freight markets brace for impact of proposed tariffs

Domestic freight demand is not only strong, it is growing stronger. 

Yet this statement, supported by data from SONAR, U.S. trade agencies and numerous industry observers, rings false to many carriers operating in the market today.

It might even call to mind the recent brow-beating and haranguing that sought to convince Americans — for whom, in the two years since 2021, the price of groceries had risen 20% — that their economic fears were unjustified, that they were simply trapped in a...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freight-markets-brace-for-impact-of-proposed-tariffs

US trade deficit widened

The U.S. trade deficit widened in August for the first time in three months as exports increased but imports increased more. The politically sensitive gap with China in the trade of goods narrowed.

The Commerce Department said Friday that the gap between what the United buys and what it sells abroad rose 1.6% to $54.9 billion from $54 billion in July. The deficit had fallen in June and July. But it is still up for the year despite President Donald Trump’s attempts to push it down by imposing...

https://container-news.com/us-trade-deficit-widened/

Bangladesh: Trade deficit falls in FY19

The deficit narrowed due to a better export growth than previous year and expected remittance earnings

The country’s trade deficit fell by 14.76% year-on-year to $15.49 billion in the last (2018-19) fiscal year, thanks to a steady growth in export earning, remittance earnings and a slowdown in import growth.

The deficit narrowed due to a better export growth than previous year and expected remittance earnings, said Zahid Hussain, former lead economist of World Bank, Bangladesh.

He said export...

https://container-news.com/bangladesh-trade-deficit-falls-fy2019/

Indonesia seen returning to trade deficit

Indonesia is likely to have swung back to a trade deficit in July, which would snap a two-month streak of trade surplus, as the country’s exports and imports are seen plunging amid broader weakness in global trade, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday, August 13.

The median forecast from 13 economists in the poll was for a $420 million trade deficit last month, compared with a $297.3 million revised surplus in June.

“It’s more due to the effect of a continued slowdown in the global economic growth,”...

https://container-news.com/indonesia-seen-returning-to-trade-deficit/

Trade deficit of Bangladesh narrows

Country’s trade deficit fell by 14.57% year-on-year to $14.66 billion in the first eleven months of the immediate past fiscal year, thanks to a slowdown in import growth, and a notable growth in export earnings.

“This indication is good for the economy,” Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh has told Dhaka Tribune.

He said the trade deficit narrowed due to the slow imports growth. Last year, a significant amount of money has gone through capital flight....

https://container-news.com/trade-deficit-bangladesh-narrows/

India: Trade deficit widens in April

India’s export growth slid to a four-month low of 0.64% in April as shipments of engineering goods, gems and jewellery, leather and other products declined, widening the trade deficit to a five-month high, official data released Wednesday showed.

Imports increased by 4.5% to $41.4 billion, the highest in the last six months as crude oil and gold shipments shot up during this month.

Merchandise exports stood at $26 billion in April while imports at $41.4 billion, leading to a trade deficit of...

https://container-news.com/india-trade-deficit-widens-april/

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