U.S. exporters still face uphill battle

There has been some encouraging news of late about California’s exports, but the outlook for the state and the rest of the nation is “mixed” going into this winter, Jock O’Connell, Beacon Economics’ International Trade Adviser, warned.

“While the Federal Reserve Bank’s efforts at quantitative easing should push the dollar’s value down to the benefit of California exporters, the current level of acrimony among the G-20 nations is shocking,” he said. “As the G-20 leaders huddle in Korea this week, there appears little room for a consensus to emerge over how the global economy’s chief players will address some extremely vexing economic and trade policy issues.”

On the import side of the ledger, the U.S. Commerce Department reports that California’s merchandise import trade totaled $28.87 billion in September, an increase of 13.2 percent over last September. California accounted for 17.4 percent of all U.S. merchandise imports in September.

California’s nominal international trade deficit in September amounted to $16.54 billion.