News from inside the trade negotiations with China has generally been positive for about six months. Starting late last year (19 December 2018), the 1 January effective date of the U.S. tariff rate increases on Chinese goods was pushed back to 2 March to facilitate ongoing negotiations. From that time until 6 May, the administration repeatedly said that progress was steady, a deal was in the offing and that the U.S. tariffs imposed on China were working. At this point, that assertion about the effectiveness of tariffs is a highly unprovable proposition. Overall, China stopped importing U.S. goods at a higher rate through 2018 than the U.S. stopped importing Chinese goods. While the first quarter (Q1) 2019 trade deficit with China is way do...

TAGS – China, North America