b'aUgUsT 24 - sePTeMber 13, 2020China trade7(PAUSEcontinued from page 5)The issues between China and the U.S and the PRC are myriad but largelyUnited States Imports from China & Hong Kongfall in the realm of either the strategic interests and trade. But in broad terms, trade, and specifically the US trade deficit, rises to the top as the major issue forYEAR JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN TTLthe Trump Administration, especially with the President Donald Trump himself.CHINA 2020 819,369.52 576,272.70 350,504.06 653,305.56 700,599.62 800,832.92 3,900,884This is nothing new as its well established that the U.S. imports far more2019 886,630.74 746,609.20 577,516.67 730,901.14 851,451.40 819,376.59 4,612,486goods from China than it exports to China. Currently the trade gap betweenDiff % -7.59% -22.81% -39.31% -10.62% -17.72% -2.26% -15.43%China and the U.S. is the largest of any trade partner - around $131.7 billionYEAR JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN TTLthrough June. In June alone the trade deficit with China was $28.4 billion and inHONG2020 56,879.52 40,336.04 26,726.21 48,238.34 51,642.32 58,729.85 282,5522019 topped $419 billion.KONG 2019 65,287.67 57,746.99 41,052.81 50,716.84 58,319.69 59,571.59 332,696Among economists there is a great deal of debate over how important theDiff % -12.88% -30.15% -34.90% -4.89% -11.45% -1.41% -15.07%trade deficit really is and how the numbers themselves are compiled. Most goodsSource: Descartes - DatamyneChina exports to the U.S. are consumer goods like personal electronics or furni-ture while conversely the goods the U.S. exports to China are largely agricultural or energy such as soy beans, grain and hydrocarbon based-fuels.United States Imports from Hong Kong by CarrierFrom a bean counting perspective, its apples to oranges. A smartphone assembled at a factory in China might be worth $2,000 landed in the U.S. butTEUsthe Chinese factorys slice of the smartphone is worth just a fraction of that VOCC H1 2020 H1 2019 Diff %maybe $200. The rest of the cash is spread around the value chain to many otherOCEAN NETWORK EXPRESS PTE LTD (ONEY) 38,817 47,175 -17.72parties -much of which finds its way back into the hands of stakeholders andCOSCO SHIPPING LINES CO LTD (COSU) 36,838 39,537 -6.83shareholders that own the rights and patents to the smartphoneoften domiciledEVERGREEN LINE (EGLV) 33,347 31,478 5.94CMA-CGM (CMDU) 27,488 24,891 10.43in the U.S. ORIENT OVERSEAS CONTAINER LINE LTD (OOLU) 26,899 32,863 -18.15Conversely, bales of hay, tons of soy beans, barrels of oil or tons of LNGMSC-MEDITERRANEAN SHIPPING COMPANY S A - MEDU (MSCU) 18,758 27,846 -32.64(Liquefied Natural Gas) are commodities whose worth, while subject to marketAPL CO PTE LTD-NOL GROUP (APLU) 17,815 21,532 -17.26MAERSK LINE (MAEU) 17,475 19,522 -10.49whims, have few inputswhat you see is what you get type of goods with noYANG MING MARINE TRANSPORT CORP (YMLU) 17,300 21,152 -18.21value chain to speak of. HAPAG LLOYD A G (HLCU) 12,341 15,271 -19.19OTHERS 35,476 51,429 -31.02Total 282,552 332,696 -15.07T hanKY ouc hina Source: Descartes - DatamyneShortly after the deal was signed, President Trump tweeted, The deal I just made with China is, by far, the greatest and biggest deal ever madeforourGreatPatriot Farmers in the history of our CountryInfact,thereisa question as to whether or not this much product can be pro-duced? Our farmers will figure it out. Thank you China!ThePresidentsenthusi-asmforthedealwasbased on Chinas agreement to raise itsagriculturalpurchases to$12.5billionover2017 thisyearand$19.5billion over2017in2021[roughly bringthepurchasetotalsto $37billionand$50billion respectively]agricultural exportscomingfromMid-westernstatesdeemedkey totheupcomingNovember elections.Inturn,theU.S. side agreed not to raise tariffs from 25% to 30% in October. OverallthedealwithChina could amount to $200 billion by the end of 2021.But the deal really hasnt goneasplanned. According to data compiled by the Peter-son Institute for International Economics(PIIE),Chinese agricultural purchases at theFLORIDAS DISTRIBUTION HUBend of June had reached only 39%oftheirsemi-annual target, according to U.S. fig- PORT TAMPA BAY & THE I-4 CORRIDORures.AlthoughbyChinas reckoning the tally was 48%.Distribution CentersAdditionally, China only pur-Over 380 million square feet of distribution center space ORLANDOchased approximately 5% of theenergyproductsneces-One of the hottest industrial real estate markets in the U.S PORTTAMPA sary to hit the Phase 1 goal of Over 10 million square feet of additional DC capacity under development BAY$25.3 billion.Global container connections with new Asia direct servicesAnd up to very recently, Expanding terminal facilities with plenty of room for growthBeijing didnt seem to be in any hurry to meet the goalsYour last mile just got shorter.outlined in the deal. A report by Bloomberg noted, China isWWW.PORTTB.COMbuying more Brazilian com-modities, such as soy beans, than it did before, accounting for 40.4% of Brazils exports inMay.Allinall,China bought35.2%morefrom BrazilinMay2020thanit did in May 2019.Suchnumbersarebad optics for the biggest deal and when asked whether the1101 CHANNELSIDE DRIVE, TAMPA, FLORIDA 33602(PAUSEcontinued on page 8)'