Group items tagged

Japan's trade deficit increases in October as increase in imports exceed increase in exports to the US and China. Over the past years, weakening yen has helped promote exports, but also increases the cost for imports. The increase in cost for imports, such as crude oil, helped widen trade deficit. This shows the relationship between the current account and the exchange rate. Japan is currently going through a balance trade of goods and services deficit. This results in downward pressure on the exchange rate of the currency as there is an increase in the supply of yen due to increase in imports.

This article focuses on the trade deficit of Japan. Japan's trade deficit nearly doubled in October, as growth in imports outpaced robust increases in exports to the U.S. and China, the Finance Ministry reported Wednesday. There are several factors that led to trade deficit. Firstly, the weakening of the yen over the past year had its significant impact on imports and exports. After meltdown of the nuclear power plant in 2011, Japan has faced loss of the generation capacity, therefore forcing Japan to import natural gas and oil. Overall, weakening in the Japanese yen over the past year has helped exports, but it has also increased the cost of imports.However, the exports are not as stable as they could be. Slowdown in economic growth of China has led to decrease in demand for Japanese exports.Overall the article talks about the details of the trade deficit of Japan.

United States proposed a Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) with a goal of reaching a deal by year-end. The U.S. aims to discuss the trade deal with other nations during the World Trade Organization meeting. The TPP talks aim to establish a free-trade bloc that covers 800 million people, a third of world trade and accounting for 40 percent of the global economy. The goal is to promote remove trade protectionisms and also set standard for workers' rights, environmental protection and intellectual property rights. This article can be related to our topic this week as it involves trade protectionism. This TTP deal argues against protectionism measures as they believe the removal of protectionism will promote growth. For instance, Obama believes that more export will provide more U.S. jobs. On the other hand, opponents against the deal state that the deal will only provide multinational corporations powers against national policies in the name of free trade.

This article is of great interest to us as it demonstrates a very recent development in a relationship that we discuss constantly in economics, this being the trade relationship in between China and the United States. In the article we learn that the notorious trade deficit between the two nations actually widening more than was expected, and the numbers pertaining to the deficit are stunningly large. 

It is an article about the trade deficit in U.S. The U.S. trade deficit with China rose slightly in September to the record monthly level of $30.5 billion. The U.S is a country that normally imports more than they export. One of the factors that contribute to this situation is the fact than many countries in Asia, especially China, are undervaluing their currency what cause an increase in the imports of Asian products in the U.S. Trade deficit is not a new problem, the U.S has been running a trade deficit for more than 20 years. There is a big concern among policymakers about this situation, many of them argue that in some moment foreign countries will stop lending money to the U.S, and the U.S will have to start to repay its debts. This could drive the value of the dollar down, force U.S. interest rates higher, and consequently stifle economic activity. On the other hand there are economists that argue that the trade balance is not a good indicator of economic. They consider that we should look at national savings rate.

This is an excellent article from The Telegraph that sheds some light on the possible creation of the world's largest trading bloc. This bloc would include the removal of trade barriers between the U.S., Great Britain, and all of the E.U., and would be of incredible importance and power given that this new trade relationship could strengthen all nations involved in order to rival the growth of nations like China and India. 

EU and US economies account for nearly half of the world's economic output and a third of global trade, meaning that a transatlantic free-trade bloc would hold great sway over emerging economic superpowers China, Brazil and India.

The trading bloc presents in the article is the ASEAN trading bloc, which includes 10 nations. India and ASEAN are negotiating on a free trade agreement on services and investments. However, some nations of the ASEAN have not agreed on the agreement. The agreement, if implemented, will help boost movement of Indian professionals in the ASEAN region and it will increase more investments in services sector. This article is a great example of a trading bloc and how nations that are a part of the trading bloc must agree on an agreements. Here, India is not negotiating with all 10 nations instead of just one. Combining all nations help strengthen all nations economically.

This article is ripe for examination as it presents the point of view of many different nations. The primary focus in the situation in Chile, put it allows us to see the perspective of a major currency trader (the AG) as well as the perspective of China, Chile's major trading partner. Moreover, we get to see the rational behind the valuation of currency, in this case related to commodities.

I enjoyed this article due to the fact that it was in a different light. Most of all the other articles are written in negative aspects but this one looks at the positives of how the Chilian peso is going to recover. It also shows us how important exports are to certain countries as they depend on them, in this case copper , to stabalize the economy.

South Korea has moved closer to joining a 12 Nation trading pact which aims to slash trade barriers between nations which make up about 40% of world economy. Some of these countries that are already in the pact include United States of America and Canada.They are entering negotiations about possibly joining the TPP - The Trans Pacific partnership Trade pact.

Although this article focuses on protectionism, in my opinion trade barriers come along. The WTO has lately noticed of an economic and trade slowdown because ofprotectionism, the global trade growth is estimated to decline from 5% to 4.5% next year which is alarming due to the fact the world's economy needs to recover. The article also talks about how trade protectionism is becoming more difficult to fight because it is difficult to fight because of the complexity and because its coming in different ways that we are not used to (for example:tariffs and export subsidies), and more and more regulations are being imposed each day.

As my fellow peer said this article is a perfect example of why protection policies shouldnt be used in some cases. The article states that due to trade protectionism policies the estimated anual growth will decrease from 5% do 4.5%! What should really happen is that countries should decrease their protectionism policies, let the economy gain a bit a stamina,in order to recover from the recesion, and only then increase protectionism once the economy has recovered and is growing.

This article talks about the trade surplus of Germany. According to one German worker's statement, Germans work hard to make all their exports. However, the data shows that Germany makes as much exports as the US, but it imports much less. Therefore, Germany has faced a surplus, while the US has a trade deficit. It has been suggested that Germany should decrease their surplus, not through decrease of the exports, but through increase in imports. Increase in exports from other countries would lead to improvement of the economies of other countries like Spain, France, etc.

The leaders of the Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile recently announced that they are finishing up their negotiations about the removal of the trade tariffs. The tariffs will be removed from 92% of goods, with most of the remainder disappearing over the next few years. Such legislation is expected to encourage a free trade between the countries of Latin America and be an example for the rest of the world. Ministers are seeking to push free market policies to spur growth, attract more foreign investment and integrate their capital markets and energy networks. Overall, free trade between the listed above four countries will result in lower prices of goods and services, better allocation of the resources and close cooperation of the economies.

This article talks about how the trade deficit in Lebanon has fallen $2.8 Billion because of a drop in imports. This is a perfect example of how current account plays an important role in Internal Economics. Lebanon has previously had a reputation for importing many goods and this has caused them to have a very big Trade Deficit. However, recently reports have shown that they have drastically reduced their imports. This has resulted in them lowering their Trade Deficit, although they still remain some $14 million dollars below a balanced Trade.

This article shows how there are regional trade barriers within Africa.

The leaders of five East African countries signed a protocol on Saturday laying the groundwork for a monetary union within 10 years that they expect will expand regional trade.

This article is about the East African Community (EAC) choosing to pass a monetary union deal. The trade comprising of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania has decided to adopt a single currency for all the five countries. They plan to converge their currencies and establish a central bank, helping them to harmonize fiscal policies and increase commerce. Kenyatta, the leader of the biggest economy in the east Africa say that 'Businesses will find more freedom to trade and invest more widely, and foreign investors will find additional irresistible reasons to pitch tent in our region'.

This is an interesting article as it sheds some light on the hindrances on forming a trade union. There is a discrepancy between the wants of both party. The EU asks for lower tariffs on automobiles, wines and also higher FDI, yet India demands greater access for Indian professionals in markets of the member countries.

The fall of imports have reduced Lebanon's balance of payments deficit from $1,932.1 millions US dollars to $675.2 US dollars. Movement of imports and exports are the most significant variable affecting the balance of payments. The slowdown of Lebanon's economic activity results in lower imports and therefore lowering the deficits in the balance of payments. Imports to Lebanon is usually higher than its exports, but this had changed in 2013. Lebanon's exports of banking, educational and health services have increased. Deposit inflows had increased by 11 percent compared to last year. This article clearly relates to the Balance of Payments. Here, Lebanon's movement of goods in and out of its country pay a major role in determining the Balance of Payments. Obviously, these imports and exports are a part of the current account, which includes the balance of trade in goods (visible trade balance) and balance of trade in services (invisible balance). Lebanon sees an increase in services, which means that there could be an improve balance of trade in services.

The U.S. trade deficit widened slightly in August as exports slipped, suggesting trade will probably not be much of a boost to growth in the third quarter.

This article tells us that the trade deficit (the level of imports exceeds the ones of exports) in the U.S has been a constant issue, however as we can read, the article states that the trade deficit has narrowed more than expected to 43.2 billion instead of 43.5 billion, this is the smallest deficit ever since January 2010, when the deficit was 51.9 billion. One of the factors that have contributed to this change is the great and significant drop in oil imports.

Barack Obama is convening his advisory council on International trade as he outlines his agressive goals in doubling USA's exports. This fits into week 36's lesson quite nicely as we are learning about the Basics of International Trade and how it may be beneficial for nations. To double a country's exports would be very difficult but we will see how Obama does over the next year or so!

This is an article of interest because it hits on a variety of things that we have and are continuing to study: import tariffs, the WTO, global trading in general, and the effects that each nation's actions have on one another.

This article raises awerness of the potencial risks that protectionism polices, import tariffs in this case, might have on the economy. If the WTO talks fail and Ukraine increases import tariffs it could have huge consequences with its trading partners as the local firms of the trading partners will suffer heavy losses, potencially leading to that specific export sector closing, which in time would effect the economic growth of the exporting country/countries. That is why there always has to be a balance with protectionism policies, iit must both benefit the importer and exporter

It is an article about the trade bloc created between Byelorussia, Russia and Kazakhstan. This Customs Union in its three-member format of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan still appears tiny beside the European Union, however countries like Kyrgyzstan and Armenia have declared interest in joining this group due to the energetic privileges that Russia offers to the countries members. One of the strongest points of this Custom Union is its large population that creates a big consumer market. On the other side the countries members of this block will have to accept the high interest rates of the Russian government. This article has a very good conclusion that I Would like to write down: ''The market is global but there is no global regulation,'' Valovaya says. The response has been a rush to recruit nations into regional trade blocs. It is a rivalry recalling the Cold War, but these new trade groups are mostly creedless structures, able to espouse little if any distinguishing ideology.