Disturbing data released yesterday has highlighted exactly what the cost of the long-standing US trade war has been, piling more misery on markets and further raising concerns of a recession.
Reuters reports that according to Commerce Department data, American companies have borne the brunt of the trade war with a loss of $46 billion since 2018. Exports from the US to other countries such as Mexico have also fallen. It says, “The lion’s share of the higher tariff costs, some $37.3 billion, stemmed from duties on imports from China… Exports of U.S. goods hit by retaliatory tariffs from China and other countries fell by 23% in the 12 months ended November, compared with 2017, before the tariffs began… Even when retaliatory tariffs have ended, those exports haven’t bounced back.”
The tariffs arising from the US-China trade war have stinted growth and cut into export volume the data shows.
While this is bad news for the US economy, it is a strong indicator that now is a good time to buy Gold – data like this gives further sway to overwhelming predictions that a recession is looming which historically puts gold in high demand and will certainly cause prices to rise.