Supply Chain Research

U.S. trade data has been published at a delay since the government shutdown and is only scheduled to catch up in May. In the meantime other trade data sources can provide a guide to the direction of travel in imports after December’s 3.4% increase. U.S. Treasury Department data shows customs duties reached $6.63 billion in January, up 107.9% year over year due to new tariffs on Chinese exports and metals among others. On a month-over-month basis that was a 10.6% increase. Keeping everything else equal that would suggest imports rose 15.3%. More conservative growth levels can be seen from...