CHINA/NORTH KOREA/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s stern warning that the U.S. may halt trade with countries doing business with North Korea was seen as a direct shot at China, the regime’s biggest trading partner. But China is America’s largest single trading partner as well, highlighting how difficult it would be for the Trump administration to follow through on its threat.
North Korea sent 83% of its exports, valued at about $2.34 billion, to China in 2015, consisting of such items as coal briquettes, according to data compiled by MIT’s Observatory of Economic Complexity. Going the other way, China was the source of about 85% of North Korea’s imports, such as refined petroleum, synthetic fabric, delivery trucks, soybean oil and broadcasting equipment, the data show.
China’s goods and services trade with the U.S., meanwhile, totaled nearly $650 billion in 2016, figures from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office show. China produced more than one-fifth of the total goods the U.S. imports, from cellphones and computers to furniture and footwear. After Canada and Mexico, China is the U.S.’s third-largest goods export market, which totaled nearly $170 billion in 2016. Top American exports to China include planes and helicopters.
Because the trade volume is so heavy, analysts say severely restricting trade with China would be nearly impossible to implement without wreaking havoc on the U.S. economy, leading some analysts to dismiss the threat as not credible.”
-Kate Davidson, “Trade Warning to China Over North Korea Carries Risks to U.S. Economy,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 4, 2017 04:58pm