According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the trade deficit in goods and services grew slightly to $68.2 billion in December 2020. U.S. exports actually increased, but imports grew faster. The bigger issue is that both exports and imports grew, which means economic activity grew. The U.S. economy and the global economy are starting to return to normal. While two-way trade was down 1.7 percent in January in dollar terms, it was up 1.1 percent over December. Two-way trade is the real measure of economic growth on the trade front. On the topic of imports, the total value of imports in January stood at 5.7 percent greater than pre-COVID February 2020, and 3.2 percent more than January 2020. That’s a sign that the U.S. economy is growing and t...
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...
From WPI Consulting
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.