Saying I'm wrong, doesn't make it so. Your claim - that US exports are "eating dirt" - is unsupported by the actual export numbers. US Exports are down a few billion dollars only vs 2017, and they're up vs 2015 and 2016. In a $20.5 trillion economy it's entirely meaningless to see a $3 or $5 billion drop in exports to China and doesn't square with your outlandish claim about dirt eating.
China is benefitting from what's called front-loading, which is a temporary bump in exports to beat the implementation of tariffs. It has been widely discussed in dozens of business publications over the last few months (including some breathless articles about ships desperately racing to beat the tariff dates), there's nothing surprising about it.
The gap is what matters, not the year over year totals. Trump’s stated objective was to lower the trade gap and he (so far) is failing. Front loading is evidence that US demand is as high as ever. US companies have no real options other than Chinese suppliers and that’s why they’re buying as much as possible ahead of Trump’s tarrifs, which only really punish US buyers and the end consumers.
The fact that China can use its currency to fight this trade war is only more evidence that the US is being outmaneuvered.
You can spin it all day long, but the US soybean farmers and steelworkers are not winning this trade war.
China is benefitting from what's called front-loading, which is a temporary bump in exports to beat the implementation of tariffs. It has been widely discussed in dozens of business publications over the last few months (including some breathless articles about ships desperately racing to beat the tariff dates), there's nothing surprising about it.