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-$35,952,800,000: U.S.-China Trade Deficit Set January Record

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(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. merchandise trade deficit with the People’s Republic of China set a record for the month of January, hitting $35,952,800,000, according to data released today by the Census Bureau.




That was up 12.5 percent from the previous record, which was the $31,952,560,000 merchandise trade deficit (in constant January 2018 dollars) that the U.S. ran with the PRC in January 2017.




The last time the United States ran a merchandise trade surplus with China in the month of January was 1985, when the U.S. ran a $26,100,000 surplus.






In calendar year 2017, the United States ran a $375,227,500,000 merchandise trade deficit with the People’s Republic of China. That was by far the largest bilateral merchandise trade deficit the U.S. ran with any country for that year.



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The second largest U.S. merchandise trade deficit in 2017 was the $71,056,500,000 deficit with Mexico. China’s one-month deficit of $35,952,800,000 in January equaled more than 50 percent (50.59 percent) of last year’s entire deficit with Mexico.




The third largest bilateral merchandise trade deficit that the U.S. ran last year was with Japan ($68,847,700,000), the fourth largest was with Germany ($64,252,000,000) and the fifth largest was with Vietnam ($38,320,000,000.)




Two of the largest bilateral trade deficits the U.S. ran last year—those with China and Vietnam—were with countries that have communist governments.

The United Kingdom was the seventh largest merchandise trading partner of the United States in 2017 when measured by the total value of both imports and exports. It was also the largest trading partner with which the U.S. ran a merchandise trade surplus in 2017.




The U.S. exported $56,328,800,000 to the U.K. during the year and imported $53,074,900,000—running an annual surplus of $3,253,900,000.

In January, the United States exported $4,779,900,000 to the U.K. and imported $4,549,000,000—running a monthly surplus of $230,900,000.

By contrast, the United States exported $130,369,500,000 in merchandise to the People’s Republic of China in 2017 and imported $505,597,100,000, resulting in the $375,227,500,000 deficit.



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In January, the United States exported $9,835,300,000 in merchandise to China and imported $45,788,000,000, resulting in the $35,952,800,000 monthly deficit.




According to the CIA World Factbook, China had a population of 1,379,302,771 as of July 2017. That means that during 2017, the $130,369,500,000 in U.S. merchandise that the Chinese bought equaled about $94.52 per capita.




The United Kingdom by contrast had a population of 64,769,452 as of July 2017, according to the CIA. That means that the $56,328,800,000 in U.S. merchandise that the British bought during 2017 equaled about $869.68 per capita.




The $869.68 per capita in U.S. goods the U.K. bought in 2017 was $775.16 (or about 820 percent) more than the $94.52 per capita that the Chinese bought.






The Gross Domestic Product of the People’s Republic of China was about $23,120,000,000,000 in 2017, according to the CIA. That means the $130,369,500,000 in U.S. goods that China bought during the year equaled about 0.56 percent of China’s GDP.




The Gross Domestic Product of the United Kingdom was about $2,880,000,000,000 in 2017, according to the CIA. That means the that the $56,328,800,000 in U.S. merchandise that the British bought during 2017 equaled about 1.96 percent of GDP.










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U.S. trade deficit hits highest monthly level since 2008

By DOUG PALMER


03/07/2018 09:42 AM EST


Updated 03/07/2018 11:50 AM EST

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The U.S. trade deficit, which President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to reduce or eliminate, rose 5 percent in January to hit $56.6 billion, its highest monthly level since October 2008, when George W. Bush was president, Commerce Department data released today showed.

The gap, which measures the difference between imports and exports, was higher in January than during any month of former President Barack Obama's administration. Trump claims the trade deficit is a result of bad trade deals, but most economists believe it mainly reflects an economy's strength — and that it tends to rise when times are good.

For example, America's monthly trade gap plummeted from $59.5 billion in October 2008 to $44.1 billion the following month as the early days of the Great Recession took hold. The monthly deficit continued declining and bottomed out at $26.6 billion in June 2009, before it gradually started rising again as the economy improved.

The U.S. last year racked up an annual trade deficit in goods and services with all international trading partners of $568.4 billion, a 12.6 percent jump from the prior year, according to updated numbers the Commerce Department released on Wednesday. That was the widest the annual gap has been since 2008.

The latest monthly report comes as Trump is promising to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from around the world to protect national security. Many countries believe the coming tariffs, which the administration expects to finalize this week or next, are a disguised effort to impose protectionist duties, and key U.S. allies like the EU and Canada are threatening to retaliate.

U.S. exports declined 1.3 percent in January, to $200.9 billion, while imports were unchanged from the prior month, at $257.5 billion. The goods trade deficit, which excludes services, hit $75.3 billion in January, the highest since July 2008.
The trade deficit with China rose to $36 billion for the month, its highest mark since September 2015, while the monthly trade deficit with Canada climbed to $3.6 billion, its highest level since December 2014.
The U.S. trade deficit, which President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to reduce or eliminate, rose 5 percent in January to hit $56.6 billion, its highest level since October 2008, when George W. Bush was president, Commerce Department data released Wednesday showed.

The gap, which measures the difference between imports and exports, was higher than during any month of former President Barack Obama's administration. Trump claims the trade deficit is a result of bad trade deals, but most economists believe it mainly reflects an economy's strength — and that it tends to rise when times are good.

For example, the U.S. trade gap plummeted from $59.5 billion in October 2008 to $44.1 billion the following month as the early days of the Great Recession took hold. The deficit continued declining and bottomed out at $26.6 billion in June 2009, before it gradually started rising again as the economy improved.

The latest monthly report comes as Trump is promising to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from around the world to protect national security. Many countries believe the coming tariffs, which the administration expects to finalize this week or next, are a disguised effort to impose protectionist duties, and key U.S. allies like the EU and Canada are threatening to retaliate.

U.S. exports declined 1.3 percent in January, to $200.9 billion, while imports were unchanged from the prior month, at $257.5 billion. The goods trade deficit, which excludes services, hit $75.3 billion, the highest since July 2008.

The trade deficit with China rose to $36 billion, its highest mark since September 2015, while the trade deficit with Canada climbed to $3.6 billion, its highest level since December 2014.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/07/trade-deficit-2018-444150
 
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As an American, the trade deficit isn't what worries me.

The problem is the wealthy Chinese buying up all the real estate and jacking up the price of homes.
 
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Well to be honest if China makes better quality products it is not their fault
US production cost is astronomically high

Quality is debatable. You're talking about mostly assembly-line manufacturing, which isn't very high-skilled. There's not much variance in the quality of a generic pencil no matter where it's manufactured. Most advanced manufacturing like semiconductors are still done in the US and a couple other western countries. Even the SoC designs that come out of China like the Kirin SoCs use ARM-reference designs. I don't see China ever taking the lead in advanced manufacturing.

Labor costs are, of course, higher in the US due to higher wages. That is why tariffs should be implemented to protect our domestic markets.
 
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Hi,

I also have a TRADE DEFICIT with this local burger chain--IN N OUT---for around $50 a month---. I go to their business---but they don't come to mine---that is trade deficit defined by a reputable economist---.

Around the 90's---the american business---etc came to china---brought their own machines and equipment---their trainers and management staffand started producing material from china---.

The labor cost was low---and there were a massive tax write offs as well.

So---all this beautiful stuff that is coming out of china---it had nothing to do with the chinese ingenuity or chinese mastery---it was purely and simply---here is the machine---here is the design---here is the material---here is how it is going to be built---now let us train people to do the job---.

The great thing about the chinese is---they are great learners---.
 
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Quality is debatable. You're talking about mostly assembly-line manufacturing, which isn't very high-skilled. There's not much variance in the quality of a generic pencil no matter where it's manufactured. Most advanced manufacturing like semiconductors are still done in the US and a couple other western countries. Even the SoC designs that come out of China like the Kirin SoCs use ARM-reference designs. I don't see China ever taking the lead in advanced manufacturing.

Labor costs are, of course, higher in the US due to higher wages. That is why tariffs should be implemented to protect our domestic markets.
I think you have very outdated news of China. If you think things like turbine blade 3D printing machine and advance drone export to USA are consider low tech.

I don’t know what is high tech?
 
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I think you have very outdated news of China. If you think things like turbine blade 3D printing machine and advance drone export to USA are consider low tech.

I don’t know what is high tech?

China does have some advanced manufacturing sectors, but they are rarely at the forefront of those industries. Usually, China is able to manufacture high tech gear, but the designs and underlying technology came from other nations.

The only high tech industries that Asia leads in is automobiles (Japan) and semiconductors/electronics components (Korea). Everything else is dominated by the west.
Also, while Asia might do well with precision manufacturing, I've noticed that they're not very good at creating new technologies. When Japan tried designing their own CPU cores (CELL Processor), it turned out to be a disaster. The only Asian country that has successfully designed competitive CPU cores is Korea with its Mongoose cores. They also created the 3D V-NAND architecture and the HBM RAM architecture. No other Asian country actually designs technology, and when they try, they just end up failing.

I went to a top 15 university in the US and I've had plenty of encounters with the top students of Asia. They are definitely not at our level.
I don't doubt that they put in far more effort into studying than we do, but breakthroughs are not usually found or invented by people who study a lot.

Asians may have higher average IQs than whites, but there's something missing about them that I can't quite put my finger on...
 
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China does have some advanced manufacturing sectors, but they are rarely at the forefront of those industries. Usually, China is able to manufacture high tech gear, but the designs and underlying technology came from other nations.

The only high tech industries that Asia leads in is automobiles (Japan) and semiconductors (Korea). Everything else is dominated by the west.
Also, while Asia might do well with precision manufacturing, I've noticed that they're not very good at creating new technologies. When Japan tried designing their own CPU cores (CELL Processor), it turned out to be a disaster. The only Asian country that has successfully designed competitive CPU cores is Korea with its Mongoose cores. They also created the 3D V-NAND architecture and the HBM RAM architecture. No other Asian country actually designs technology, and when they try, they just end up failing.

I went to a top 15 university in the US and I've had plenty of encounters with the top students of Asia. They are definitely not at our level.
I don't doubt that they put in far more effort into studying than we do, but breakthroughs are not usually found or invented by people who study a lot.

Asians may have higher average IQs than whites, but there's something missing about them that I can't quite put my finger on...

"They are definitely not at our level."

only confirms that they were smarter than you, that is if you even went to a "top 15" university in the US.
 
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"They are definitely not at our level."

only confirms that they were smarter than you, that is if you even went to a "top 15" university in the US.

I don't mean this to offend anyone of Asian descent.
It feels like Asians do put in tons of effort into studying, but the naturally gifted and the geniuses seem to come from the west and not the east.

It is somewhat amusing to sit-in at a Topology lecture and understand everything without taking notes while the Asians need to pull all-nighters during the weekends to understand a concept I picked up on in 10 minutes.
 
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China does have some advanced manufacturing sectors, but they are rarely at the forefront of those industries. Usually, China is able to manufacture high tech gear, but the designs and underlying technology came from other nations.

The only high tech industries that Asia leads in is automobiles (Japan) and semiconductors/electronics components (Korea). Everything else is dominated by the west.
Also, while Asia might do well with precision manufacturing, I've noticed that they're not very good at creating new technologies. When Japan tried designing their own CPU cores (CELL Processor), it turned out to be a disaster. The only Asian country that has successfully designed competitive CPU cores is Korea with its Mongoose cores. They also created the 3D V-NAND architecture and the HBM RAM architecture. No other Asian country actually designs technology, and when they try, they just end up failing.

I went to a top 15 university in the US and I've had plenty of encounters with the top students of Asia. They are definitely not at our level.
I don't doubt that they put in far more effort into studying than we do, but breakthroughs are not usually found or invented by people who study a lot.

Asians may have higher average IQs than whites, but there's something missing about them that I can't quite put my finger on...
China is a late comer in terms of science and technology. Before 1978 when China opened the door to outside world, China was isolated from newest science and technology. Knowledge accumulation needs time. China doesn't have magical power to turn into a science and technology giant over one night. Given the fact that western world never gives up restraining China's development and set a high wall in science and technology transfer to China, China is facing much more hostile and harsher international environment than other Asian countries.
 
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