[Leaning Right]

Well, there were articles out the other day saying China’s trade surplus with the United States was bigger than ever. So if China is losing the trade war, I guess we losing it more.

Here’s one such article:

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/14/china-2018-full-year-december-trade-exports-imports-trade-balance.html

[dynoman]

The trade balance is a separate issue and should not be conflated with the trade war.

The increase in the trade deficit is because of a strong dollar and a strong US economy. Until we manufacture more here we will still buy from China.

[Zhang Fei]

[Well, there were articles out the other day saying China’s trade surplus with the United States was bigger than ever. So if China is losing the trade war, I guess we losing it more.]

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American retailers were getting their orders in before the tariff increase from 10% to 25%, which was originally scheduled to take place January 1. There is also the issue of tariffs applying to all Chinese exports to the US (vs about 1/2 today). So every retailer under the sun is accelerating imports from China in anticipation of the new tariffs scheduled to be in place March 1 (because of the 90-day delay Trump put in place December 1).

The liberal media and diehard conservative free traders are talking up the trade deficits out of a combo of ignorance and/or deceit. This ain’t rocket science. When 25% tariffs kick in, Chinese exports to the US will go down significantly. Chinese costs are already significantly higher than places like Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Throw in copyright and patent issues, and the average American manufacturer whose principal market is stateside (like Black and Decker, Fuller, etc) has a pretty good case for relocating to China’s neighbors.