Why China is Still Buying
If you’re pessimistic about global trade, you’ve likely been paying too much attention to the Beijing-Washington trade spat.
The headline number: In September, Chinese exports to the U.S. declined 27% year-on-year. However, even including that number, China’s monthly exports increased 8.3% year-on-year to $328.6 billion.
The truth is that there…
Please Dial a New Number
As U.S. and Chinese negotiators try to find a way out of tariff gridlock, one thing is certain: The smartphone supply chain has shifted significantly, upending the practices and expectations of manufacturers, logistics firms, and retailers.
China’s exports of mobile phone fell 11.6% year-on-year in August to 60.8 million sets.…
Made in Vietnam (or China)
At a time when trade officials around the world are closely watching Vietnam’s evolving place in the global trading system, Chinese exports to the new Asian economic power in June boomed 23.8% year-on-year to $16.3 billion.
The U.S.-China trade war has pushed attention of U.S. trade negotiators toward manufacturing powers…
U.S. Market Collapsing For China
As Americans and Chinese officials scrambled to forge new politically acceptable trade terms, China reported a pandemic-level decline in exports to the U.S.
Chinese shipments to the U.S. fell 34.4% year-on-year in May to $28.8 billion, the steepest drop since Covid-19 upended global trade in February 2020. Chinese imports from…
In the new age of trade geopolitics, the only certainty is uncertainty. What we can do at Trade Data Monitor is take an educated look at trade statistics that measure what’s leaving and entering ports, crossing oceans, and flying through the air. To be sure, the scenario is less than rosy. The World Trade Organization…
First Impact of U.S. Tariffs
Chinese shipments to the U.S. plummeted 21% year-on-year in April as the impact of Washington’s new import tariffs started to punish the world’s largest exporter.
However, as Beijing was quick to point out, China compensated by selling more to its economic partners in Southeast Asia. In a striking coincidence, Chinese…
China’s Economy
When China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, the move was seen as an essential turboboost to a huge but developing country. Without access to global markets, there was no way for China to become the greatest exporter the world has ever seen.
Now, as the backlash to that growth turns into…
Vietnam Pivots Back to Asia
Vietnam, one of the world’s most dynamic economies, now faces one of its most important challenges of this century as it faces protectionist headwinds and tepid consumer economies in the U.S. and Europe.
So far, its formidable export-based economy has seemed up to the task. In 2024, overall exports rose…
Rocky Waters
It’s a perilous time for the global trading system. President Trump has imposed an across-the-board tariff of 20%, in two tranches of 10%, on U.S. imports of Chinese goods. There are threats of more action, on microchips, drugs, and automobiles. Lesser degrees of protectionism in Europe, Canada and elsewhere are also denting confidence…
Trade in a Time of Geopolitical Adjustment
The focus of the global trade world is, rightly, on President-elect Donald Trump and the U.S. debating and deciding how far they’ll go in enacting new protectionist measures.
But an issue that could upend geopolitics -- with unintended consequences that will affect big issues like war and peace,…
Shake-up in Global Steel
The world of steel trade is in for a shake-up. New climate rules in Europe, the prospect of ramped-up U.S. tariffs on steel and an excess of Chinese steel imports mean companies around the world must calibrate their trade strategies in 2024.
With the U.S. locked in protectionism and the…
This week’s election of Donald Trump as the U.S.’s 47th president is almost certainly likely to lead to another trade war with China, and further tariffs on American imports. During the campaign, Trump said his favorite word was tariff and floated a universal 10% tariff and specific duties on Chinese imports as high as 60%.…
During a summer that’s been a boon for free trade despite a looming escalation in trade wars, and the possibility of a second Trump administration, China’s agricultural imports dropped 4.9% year-on-year in July to $17.8 billion.
The trend reflects China’s regulatory practices, strategic protectionism, and shifting demographics. China has blocked some U.S. beef imports because of…
The Beijing trade engine has been slumping this year amid a tepid global economy, so a surprising jump in Chinese imports in April has raised the prospect of a China-led recovery. Total Chinese imports rose 8.4% year-on-year in April to $220.1 billon, almost double analyst expectations. Total exports increased 1.5% to $292.5 billon.
Surprising Global…
China’s electric car export boom has fueled demand in the country for automobile transport ships, driving up prices for foreign buyers.
Overall, in March, Chinese ship exports fell 5.9% year-on-year by quantity in March to 399, after steadily rising for most of this decade. By value, they increased 34% to $3.1 billion. So called Roll-on/roll-off,…
Don’t let anybody tell you that globalization is dying—at least, not yet.
Global trade economists obsess over consumer demand and rising protectionism in the U.S. and Europe, but this week’s release of Chinese trade statistics shows that other markets might soon be catching up in relevance.
The Promise of Other Markets
China’s exports to Latin…
In a tricky global economy, Vietnamese exports shrank in 2023, but the rising economic power managed to be one of the only countries to increase merchandise exports to China, thanks to a surprising surge in exports of fruits and vegetables, as well as rice, demonstrating the importance of export diversification.
The Difficulties of 2023
The country of…
In the somewhat gloomy December and annual China trade statistics released in the second week of January was buried a piece of data that hearkened back to the boom years of Chinese commodity consumption: China is buying a lot more iron ore and copper.
In December, China boosted iron ore imports 11.1% year-on-year to 100.9…
As European Union leaders gathered in Beijing Thursday, one of their demands for China was a more equal trading relationship. “China is the EU’s most important trading partner,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “But there are clear imbalances and differences that we must address.”
Europe’s weak consumer economy is doing its part…
