Surging Export Similarity is Fueling Advanced Economy Trade Tensions With China

China’s trade surplus is set to hit well over a trillion dollars again this year. Largely in consequence, global current-account imbalances are projected to reach 4.1 percent of world GDP1—the highest level since the financial crisis of 2008. But those aggregate numbers do not capture another source of trade-policy friction: the growing overlap between China’s exports and those of its major trading partners. The advanced economies adjusted to the first China shock by moving up the value chain. The second shock has now arrived at their new address.

by Council on Foreign Relations – Surging Export Similarity is Fueling Advanced Economy Trade Tensions With China