Trade Deficit

DURHAM, N.C. -- The Department of Commerce will release data Tuesday showing a record trade deficit with China of more than $200 billion in 2006. This news will likely fuel reaction alleging China is plotting to harm the U.S. economy and its workers by flooding the American market with cheap goods. Such vilification is based on a mirage. Nearly $300 billion worth of U.S. goods were imported from China in 2006. Based on the pattern for China's total exports, up to two-thirds are likely to have come from other countries' corporations that are operating in China.

SHANGHAI, China -- China's export juggernaut slowed sharply in March, but analysts doubted that the surprising results would ease mounting trade tensions with the United States. China reported yesterday that its trade surplus with the rest of the world came in at $6.9 billion last month, about a third of most analysts' forecasts. The nation's exports rose 6.9 percent in March over a year earlier - the lowest growth rate in five years - as imports grew 14.5 percent. The report by China's customs administration was issued about 12 hours after the Bush administration ratcheted up pressure on Beijing by announcing that it would file two complaints with the World Trade Organization over counterfeiting of U.S. intellectual property and alleged trade barriers involving media and books.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. trade deficit surged in November, setting an annual record with a month left to go in 1998, as exports fell and increased purchases of computers and cellular phones contributed to a rise in imports, the government reported yesterday.November's trade deficit rose to $15.5 billion after narrowing in October to a revised $13.6 billion, the Commerce Department said. That boosted the shortfall for the first 11 months of the year to $153.9 billion, topping the previous yearly record shortfall of $153.

DALLAS -- Free trade lifts living standards around the world, and efforts to raise trade barriers are doomed to fail, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan said yesterday."

Inflation fears, a ballooning trade deficit and the continued slide of the dollar against the Japanese yen sent U.S. stocks yesterday to their biggest point drop since May.The Dow Jones industrial average fell 225.43 points, or 2.08 percent, to close at 10,598.47 yesterday, while the technology-domi-nated Nasdaq composite fell 65.05 points, or 2.25 percent. The Dow had been down as much as 272.03, before ending the day with the largest drop since May 27.Despite the sharp declines, analysts said the sell-off was a calm one, mostly growing out of the uncertainties raised by the economic news.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. trade deficit in goods, services and investor income widened to a record $61.3 billion in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported yesterday.Sluggish global economies have dampened demand for U.S.-made goods as Asian companies, such as Thai Airways International, trim airplane orders from Boeing Co., the biggest U.S. exporter. Also, U.S. investors saw the values of their international stock and bond investments decline.That one-two punch produced the largest current account deficit ever.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. trade deficit widened less than expected in July and consumer prices were little changed in August, government figures showed yesterday.Those findings -- along with other reports showing a decline in jobless claims and rising incomes for workers -- suggest that outside of a slowdown in manufacturing, the U.S. economy is holding up well in its eighth year of expansion, analysts said."There's enough momentum to keep the economy going despite the weakness in manufacturing," said Cynthia Latta, an economist at Standard & Poor's DRI in Lexington, Mass.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. trade deficit grew in March to a six-year high, as record imports outpaced exports, evidence that Asia's economic crisis is producing the double bonus for the United States of restraining growth and keeping inflation in check.The trade shortfall increased to $13.0 billion in March from a revised $12.2 billion in February, the Commerce Department said yesterday. Imports of goods and services rose 3.8 percent in March, while exports increased 3.3 percent.Exports to Asia have declined, helping rein in the U.S. economy to a pace more in line with the wishes of Federal Reserve policy-makers.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services narrowed in October, with improving international demand for American products signaling that a turnaround may be near for exporters, a report yesterday showed.October's trade deficit unexpectedly dropped to $14.19 billion -- as exports rose at a faster pace than imports -- after narrowing in September to $14.4 billion, Commerce Department figures showed. Analysts expected a trade shortfall of $15.1 billion for October.Exports rose 2.8 percent to $79.6 billion during October, as shipments of food and farm products rose to the highest level since February.

WASHINGTON -- The Commerce Department released trade statistics yesterday showing that the U.S. economy was taking a bigger knock from Asia's financial crisis than had been expected.The department also said yesterday that the nation's current account deficit, a broader measure of trade performance, expanded to $47.2 billion in the first quarter from $45 billion in the fourth quarter of 1997.Commerce officials reported that the trade deficit for April expanded to a record monthly high of $14.5 billion, well above the $13.3 billion projected by many economists and up sharply from $13.2 billion in March.

Will the economic recovery be enduring - V shaped? Or will it collapse after a short time - W shaped? For the middle class, it may be none of the above - an X. By conventional wisdom, the housing bubble, credit crisis and collapse in consumer spending caused the recession. With home sales rising, new cars flying off lots and Wall Street profits soaring, analysts see an imminent recovery. But the economy is running on steroids. About 90 percent of existing home sales are distress sales: foreclosures and homeowners in financial difficulties.

State opens trade, investment office in Vietnam Vietnam is the latest foreign locale where Maryland will open an office to foster trade and investment, the state Department of Business and Economic Development announced Friday. The new office, to be co-located in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, brings the state's total number of foreign offices to 13. As with others that opened around the world in the past year, the Vietnam office will operate on a contingency basis, with any future state funding tied to the ability to attract companies and jobs to Maryland.

Va. company buys Foundation Coal In a merger that would create the country's third-largest coal producer, Foundation Coal Holdings Inc. of Linthicum Heights said yesterday that it intends to combine with a Virginia competitor in a $2 billion deal. The merger of Foundation and Alpha Natural Resources Inc., based in Abingdon, Va., would create a new company that operates a combined 59 coal mines and 14 processing plants, and is worth more than $3.5 billion, company officials said. The merger is an all-stock transaction valued at about $2 billion, with the new company assuming roughly $530 million in debt from Foundation.

Trade has everything to do with America's economic dilemma, but officials from President-elect Barack Obama on down have had very little to say about the potentially devastating impact of a continuing trade deficit. Americans are borrowing and selling assets at a pace of about $400 billion a year to buy foreign oil and goods. U.S. foreign debt exceeds $6.5 trillion, and the debt service comes to about $2,000 a year for every working American. The deficit is caused by a combination of an overvalued dollar against the Chinese yuan, a dysfunctional national energy policy that increases U.S. dependence on foreign oil, and the competitive woes of the three domestic automakers.

DALLAS - Dear Recession, There has been quite a bit of commentary about you recently, nearly all of it bad. Just about everyone wants to see you gone. But I believe that where the business cycle is concerned, if you cannot be with the one you love, you should love the one you're with. I want to talk about your good qualities. Statistical purists and incumbent politicians say you aren't real, since the gross domestic product has yet to decline. But it is no daydream that you are already having a welcome impact on several fronts.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. exports are growing so rapidly that America's trade deficit narrowed a bit in July, the Commerce Department said yesterday, although the gap with China widened again. U.S. manufacturers are increasing overseas sales of everything from high-value aircraft and telecommunications equipment to smaller items like artwork, pharmaceuticals, household goods, foods, beverages and animal feed. As a result, growth in U.S. exports in July jumped 2.7 percent to $137.7 billion, up from the 1.3 percent growth in June.

SHANGHAI, China -- China's export juggernaut slowed sharply in March, but analysts doubted that the surprising results would ease mounting trade tensions with the United States. China reported yesterday that its trade surplus with the rest of the world came in at $6.9 billion last month, about a third of most analysts' forecasts. The nation's exports rose 6.9 percent in March over a year earlier - the lowest growth rate in five years - as imports grew 14.5 percent. The report by China's customs administration was issued about 12 hours after the Bush administration ratcheted up pressure on Beijing by announcing that it would file two complaints with the World Trade Organization over counterfeiting of U.S. intellectual property and alleged trade barriers involving media and books.

DURHAM, N.C. -- The Department of Commerce will release data Tuesday showing a record trade deficit with China of more than $200 billion in 2006. This news will likely fuel reaction alleging China is plotting to harm the U.S. economy and its workers by flooding the American market with cheap goods. Such vilification is based on a mirage. Nearly $300 billion worth of U.S. goods were imported from China in 2006. Based on the pattern for China's total exports, up to two-thirds are likely to have come from other countries' corporations that are operating in China.

Maybe the sputtering housing market will not be that big a drag on the economy after all. Falling gasoline prices are leaving Americans with more money to spend, and inflation has become less of a threat in recent weeks, according to a report released yesterday by the Federal Reserve. Wall Street reveled at the news. Stock prices - already buoyed by a series of strong corporate earnings announcements from companies like McDonald's and Costco - surged even higher after the Fed's report, the so-called beige book for the color of its cover, came out yesterday afternoon.

Last week, the Commerce Department reported that the 2005 current account deficit was $804.9 billion, up from $668.1 billion in 2004. The current account is the broadest measure of the U.S. trade balance. In the fourth quarter, the current account deficit was $224.9 billion, up from $185.4 billion in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, that deficit exceeded 7 percent of gross domestic product. The current account deficit could easily top $1 trillion a year by the second half of 2006, a prospect with ominous long-term implications for the U.S. economy.