Trade Wars and Peace: The US During COVID Part 2

Continuing on from Part 1 of Trade Wars and Peace, China, Japan, and Germany fall as the next 3 major countries that trade with the United States. All three countries have been involved in heavy trade with the U.S, with the worth of some imports and exports meeting the value of billions of dollars. 

When COVID first made its appearance in China, the immediate response was to shut down factories and a multitude of companies. China has been leading in the manufacturing industry for many years, so the stop of production increased shortages. This led to other countries, such as the U.S, which depended on the items produced by China, to “experience(d) a domino effect…” U.S imports from China took a downfall in the months of February and March of 2020, mainly due to the now weakened global supply chain. China’s imports also fell by 50%, turning the U.S’s trade towards other Asian countries away from China. 

Another country that dealt with immense trade was Japan. COVID-19 poured holes into the country’s unstable economy, shrinking the GDP at a rate of 6.3%. Additionally, a center of the Japanese economy was based around tourism, which backfired during COVID right away. In the month of February 2020, Japan’s tourism dropped 58.3%, and that number only increased to 93% in March.

The last country is Germany, which faced a decreased amount of exports and imports from the United States as soon as COVID struck. The original value of exports from the U.S to Germany valued at $57.8 billion, or $2.3 billion less than values in 2019. This case was similar to U.S imports. U.S imports stood at a value of $115.1 billion, once again a $12.4 billion decrease from 2019. Among these exports were those focusing around transportation equipment, which was the main focus. 2020 brought along a value of only $16 billion worth of transportation equipment, significantly lower than 2019. However, transportation equipment has took center stage once more, and in 2022 the U.S exported $17.3 billion worth of transportation equipment to Germany. 

References:

Wikipedia Contributors. List of the largest trading partners of the United States [Internet]. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation; 2019. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_trading_partners_of_the_United_States

Mary Everett Hancock, Mora J. The Impact of COVID-19 on Chinese trade and production: An empirical analysis of processing trade with Japan and the US. Journal of Asian Economics [Internet]. 2023 Mar 1;86:101596–6. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10023200/ 

.Esq JM. How Did China’s COVID-19 Shutdown Affect U.S. Supply Chains? [Internet]. Liberty Street Economics. 2020. Available from: https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2020/05/how-did-chinas-covid-19-shutdown-affect-us-supply-chains/ 

‌COVID-19 Overtakes Japan and the United States [Internet]. Comparative Connections. 2020. Available from: https://cc.pacforum.org/2020/05/covid-19-overtakes-japan-and-the-united-states/ 

Section I: Census Data Germany Trade Trends US Trade with Germany Overall Trends [Internet]. [cited 2024 Jul 6]. Available from: https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/country-papers/2754-2020-statistical-analysis-of-u-s-trade-with-germany/file#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20U.S.%20exports%20to 

‌Statista. Statista - the Statistics Portal for Market Data, Market Research and Market Studies [Internet]. Statista.com. Statista; 2023. Available from: https://www.statista.com