July 2019 Trade Bulletin

Highlights of This Month’s Edition

• Bilateral trade: U.S. goods deficit with China totaled $30.2 billion in May 2019, down 9 percent year-on-year, reflecting a decline in both exports and imports.
• Bilateral policy issues: New tariffs on Chinese goods halted as the United States and China agree to resume trade talks; the United States adds five entities tied to China’s development of supercomputers to the Entity List; U.S. importers are attempting to sidestep tariffs on goods from China, but some are reconsidering production in China altogether as a possible fourth wave of tariffs looms; China suspends WTO dispute against the EU over China’s market economy status after it allegedly lost the case, allowing the EU and United States to continue treating China as a nonmarket economy.
• In focus – The Baoshang Takeover: In a surprise move, Chinese financial regulators took over Baoshang Bank on May 24, sparking a slowdown in interbank lending to small and regional banks, even as the People’s Bank of China intervened to keep interbank credit channels open.