Supply Chain Research

U.S. international trade-in-goods activity fell by 1.3% year over year in July, accelerating from a 0.7% decline in June. With imports and exports down by a similar amount the trade deficit – the Trump administration’s preferred trade metric – fell for the first time since February on a year-over-year basis. The 1.2% decline in imports was due to a 10.7% slide in industrial supplies and a 4.4% slippage in capital goods – both are subject to the widening tariffs applied to Chinese exports. One concerning trend in the data is the slowdown in trade in capital goods which is a barometer for ...