Supply Chain Research

U.S. trade activity fell for a third straight month in November with a 2.0% year over year slide. Services activity continued to improve while goods fell once again. Both the total and goods deficits fell to their lowest since Oct. 2016. While that’s not a positive from an economic theory perspective, it suggests the Trump administration’s tariff-led trade policies are proving successful in achieving their deficit-led objectives. The goods deficit with China fell 30.4% to $26.4 billion, which should be supportive for relations ahead of mid-January negotiations to complete the phase 1 tra...