U.S. merchandise trade activity dropped by 24.3% year over year in April. Imports declined by 20.6% and have likely fallen further in May on the basis of seaborne shipping data. Exports slumped by 29.6% in April due to COVID-19 related factory closures and reduced overseas demand. That was the fastest one month drop since at least 2002 and the lowest single month value for exports since Sept. 2009. The autos industry led the decline in exports with a 70.8% slide while reduced imports of vehicles and parts from Mexico is complicating a restart of production in the U.S. Among other sectors...