Tags
Doing Business with the USA, US Total Imports & Exports of Goods & Services 2008-2017, US Trade in Goods with China 2008-2017, US Trade War with China, Your US-Brazil Trade Assist
U.S. Total Imports & Exports of Goods & Services 2008-2017
Chart prepared by Rosaliene Bacchus, Your US-Brazil Trade Assist
Every year during the period January to March, I update the content and links on my website rosalienebacchus.com. This year, I have redesigned my website to feature my work as a writer. With the exception of three articles – Business with Brazil, Business with the USA, and the Import-Export Workbench – all links to articles for Your US-Brazil Trade Assist remain unchanged.
This week, I completed the update for Doing Business with the USA to include US trade statistics for year 2017. As shown in the captioned chart, U.S. total imports and exports of goods and services have recovered by 6.9 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively, when compared with the previous year.
Other information and charts include the following:
- U.S. Top Ten Trade Partners 2017
- U.S. Imports of Goods by End-Use Category 2015-2017
- U.S. Exports of Goods by End-Use Category 2015-2017
- Entering the U.S. Market
- Making Contact with U.S. Importers & Exporters
- U.S. Import Regulations
- Visiting the United States for Business
For Chinese companies and their foreign suppliers in the production chain, these are uncertain times to do business with the USA. On March 22nd, the U.S. government announced plans to impose tariffs of up to $60 billion on Chinese imports in response to China’s unfair technology practices. The following day, the USTR launched a new WTO challenge against China.
U.S. Trade in Goods with China 2008-2017
Chart prepared by Rosaliene Bacchus, Your US-Brazil Trade Assist
China was quick to respond.
“China doesn’t hope to be in a trade war, but is not afraid of engaging in one,” the Chinese commerce ministry responded in a statement. “China hopes the United States will pull back from the brink, make prudent decisions, and avoid dragging bilateral trade relations to a dangerous place.”
Should the two trading partners fail to reach an agreement, the Chinese commerce ministry has prepared a list of 128 American products that could be hit with tariffs. These products would include steel pipes, dried fruit and wine, pork, and recycled aluminum, an estimated total value of $3 billion.
On March 22nd and 23rd, stock prices tumbled worldwide following investors’ fears of an escalating trade war between the U.S. and China, the world’s largest economies.
In this war, there will be American casualties.
Three Worlds One Vision 
Reblogged this on Guyanese Online.
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Thanks for the re-blog, Cyril. Have a great week 🙂
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Pingback: Update: Doing Business with the USA – By Rosaliene Bacchus
Thanks for the re-blog, GuyFrog 🙂
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Rosaliene,
I’ve been wondering why trade deficits are important. It seems the amount of money going out of the country is less important than the quality of the products. From my limited perspective, it seems we are exporting quality products, like wood and cotton, and importing junk, including lots of plastic.
It seems as though “jobs” are moving to China and other third world countries because of cheap labor and looser environmental laws. I’ve come to believe the industrial age has peaked, and we already have plenty of manufacturing, producing too many products that have glutted markets. Thus the age of planned obsolescence.
I’m curious about your opinion on Trump’s tariffs, not only on solar panels and large washing machines, but on steel and aluminum. I think they may be “dinosaur tariffs” fit for an earlier time. If they work to stimulate wage increases at home, to reduce consumption, and promote metal re-cycling, they may be worthwhile.
If the Prez wants to be a genuine New Ager, instead of the old fogy he appears to be now, he will slap a huge tariff on plastic.
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Katharine, when we moved our production overseas to reduce costs, we did not consider the consequences here at home – job losses and stagnant wages.
Would these tariffs stimulate wage increases, reduce consumption, and promote metal re-cycling? I don’t know. Perhaps in some communities. Economists have estimated that we would lose more jobs, due to backlash from our trading partners, than we would create.
A huge tariff on plastic would be great, but I don’t think it would solve our environmental problem. We would have to ban its production and use.
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It would require considerable time for trade tariffs to re-stimulate industrial production in the U.S., and there’s no guarantee that it would do so at all. In this global economy, American manufacturing is neither a priority for transnational business interests nor is the corporate infrastructure geared towards it. Most likely, importers will look to other low wage countries for replacement of Chinese goods subject to high tariffs. In the meantime, a dangerous trade war looms. I say “dangerous” because that’s one of the ways real wars start. Here’s an example:
In the 1930s, Imperial Japan invaded China and committed great atrocities upon the population. This angered the U.S. which first warned Japan, and then retaliated by imposing economic sanctions which robbed Japanese expansionism of necessities such as oil and steel. These sanctions hit Japan very hard and eventually forced it into a military confrontation with the West. It sought to eliminate Allied power in the Pacific by attacking Pearl Harbor and U.S./U.K. military bases in the Philippines and elsewhere in the region, and to seize the oil fields and other key resources throughout the Southwest Pacific.
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As exemplified in the 1930s Japanese case, trade wars can have unexpected consequences.
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Trade wars between military super powers are just the sabre rattling intended to lead to a hot war. Again the quote: “Those who will not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” Sadly the condemned are not those who initiate the conflicts. Why do the sheeple so eagerly precede the leader so blindly into fields of land mines? Makes one reassess the meaning of “leader” and “follower” doesn’t it.
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Rosaliene,
I think it’s impossible to predict the effects these tariffs will have. You and I have both spoken out against consumerism, but that’s what keeps the economy (as we know it) going. The idea of a tariff on plastics was partially tongue-in-cheek, because it won’t happen. However, as long as we’re thinking about tariffs, we should consider that they could serve to keep junk out. I keep saying we export the good stuff and import junk, but nobody else is saying it.
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Katharine, I read the following article today on MarketWatch and thought you might also find it of interest:
“Opinion: Trump’s unwinnable trade war with China”
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trumps-unwinnable-trade-war-with-china-2018-04-03
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Rosaliene,
Thanks for the link. I read the article but see from a different angle. I would contend governments benefit from tariffs and trade wars, because of the tariff revenues. Who loses? The international corporations. Those screaming the loudest are war contractors like GE and Boeing, and bankers like Goldman Sachs. Anything that displeases Wall Street and the bankers can’t be all bad.
Higher prices may lead to reduced consumerism. I know you are in the import-export business, so you may not agree, but you might understand why I believe imports and exports are not necessarily good for a country’s citizens. Let China raise its own pork and generate its own pollution. While I don’t like much of what Trump is doing, I like the idea of supporting domestic products and labor, and Chinese shoes don’t fit right, anyway.
Also, I believe the Chinese are not buying so many Treasuries, these days and may be selling them.
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Katharine, thanks for taking the time to read the article and share your comments. I totally agree that we need to reduce our consumption. Saving Earth’s ecosystems demands it.
It’s been several years now since I left the import-export business but I keep abreast of developments to provide up-to-date info for international trade students and SMEs who use my US-Brazil Trade Assist. While the multinational and transnational corporations have the political clout to influence US trade policies, the majority of our importers and exporters are SMEs: small- and medium-sized enterprises with less that 500 employees.
According to a report from the US Department of Commerce on May 2, 2017:
In 2015, nearly 408,000 companies in the United States traded goods internationally, with nearly 295,000 companies exporting goods and almost 197,000 companies importing goods from abroad. The majority of these companies were “small and medium-sized enterprises,” or SMEs, with fewer than 500 employees. In 2015, SMEs accounted for 98 percent of goods exporters and 97 percent of goods importers. However, in terms of known dollar value, large companies account for a larger share of trade, with SMEs only accounting for about a third of U.S. goods trade.
Learn more at http://www.commerce.gov/news/blog/2017/05/small-and-medium-sized-enterprises-reaching-new-markets
Humans have been trading across borders since the days of ancient civilizations. Now that we have globalized human relations in all of its diversity, I believe that we must strive to find ways of fair and sensible trade practices.
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Rosaliene,
Thanks for your informative reply. I don’t have answers but lots of questions. I support SMEs but know little about them. And, I suspect the Trump tariffs will affect them, too.
I do wonder if policies that rein in international corporations actually help small business, though, or maybe will help them. For instance, what the “farming industry” wants is often hurtful to small farmers.
It seems debt and going public are two dangerous traps for small business, and are often linked. Are any of the small businesses you represent publicly traded? My view of the stock market is that companies lose focus when they go public, and stock churning, plus dividends, sap company resources for short-term profits.
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Katharine, I don’t represent any small businesses and no longer respond to queries I receive by email. Business owners/professionals/students that visit my website are free to use the information I provide on doing business with the USA and Brazil, as well as other information available on world trade blocks (my most popular article), Guyana, the Caribbean, and fair trade.
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Rosaliene,
Thanks for your reply. It is a large, comprehensive issue, isn’t it? It occurs to me that war and trade have probably done more to make the world aware of other cultures than anything else. (And war over trade, of course.)
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Katharine, that has indeed been my experience as a former international trade professional. Countries engaged in mutual trade that benefits both trading partners normally enjoy favorable relationships.
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Rosaliene,
I’m all for win-win situations. That may be the biggest difference between trade and war.
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Rosaliene,
I just read the commerce.gov link. While the statistics are interesting, they don’t tell me much, except that small businesses export to different countries than large business. I’m naturally curious about what products are imported and exported, and how they may be affected by tariffs. I guess we will know in time.
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Katharine, US imports and exports from/to the world by product code are available on the US Census Bureau. Information by country is also available.
US Exports to World Total 2008-2017 by product code
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/product/enduse/exports/c0000.html
US Imports from World Total 2008-2017 by product code
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/product/enduse/imports/c0000.html
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Thank you, Rosaliene. Yet another subject that seems to get deeper the more I delve into it. The more you know, the more you need to find out, and then everything changes, and you realize you know nothing. At least that’s how I feel, these days.
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thanks for this
business report 🙂
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Somewhere out there we would find an old saying about how it takes a lifetime to build a reputation, but one misguided act to lose it. As a trading partner and steady, reliable friend to our allies, we seem to be losing it.
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Indeed, Dr. Stein. We are creating mistrust with and among our allies. The Japanese are wary that the US did not include them among the countries exempted from the steel tariffs.
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I am not much into politics but I do appreciate the input I get from your blog.
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Thanks, Marlene. I learned at a young age that the decisions our political leaders make affect our lives, for good and bad.
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While I’m a strong proponent of rebuilding stronger local and regional economies, I think Trump is going about it backwards. It should be done from the bottom up via local grassroots initiatives. By doing it from the top down, Trump is just going to put a lot of people in export-oriented industries out of work.
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This is such a mess. I wish I had something more scholarly/insightful, but these times are just…ugh!
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