As promised, this past Sunday Sept 1st the U.S. began implementing 15 percent tariffs on a variety of goods. On Monday, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced that China filed a complaint against the US under the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement system

Although Europe remains the epicenter of Brexit’s economic and political instability, the United States is not insulated from the shocks felt across the water. We summarized some of the anticipated effects of Brexit on the U.S. economy and trade outlook.

Full-year 2015 trade data from the United States International Trade Commission are now available. To celebrate, we review some of the most important big-picture developments in U.S. trade from the previous year.

Growing U.S. oil and gas production and lower oil prices have reshaped U.S. petroleum trade. Although the United States still runs a deficit, the average monthly trade deficit through August 2015 is only $7.6 billion, compared to $35.1 billion through August 2008. This improvement is largely driven by imports.

According to official data, the U.S. aerospace industry generated a trade surplus of $56.4 billion in 2012, the largest of any manufacturing industry. Exports are important to the domestic industry, with almost half of all domestic aerospace production exported. In addition, the Commerce Department found that the aerospace industry supports more jobs through exports than any other industry.

The deficit for petroleum products has declined by approximately $41 billion while the deficit for non-petroleum products has expanded by approximately $10 billion. This suggests that increased U.S. production of energy, not improved productivity or in-sourcing, is the main driver of the change in U.S. trade flows thus far in 2013.