Despite the trade war against China and numerous import tariffs imposed on a number of countries, the US trade deficit hit a 10-year high of $621 billion last year, the US Commerce Department reported.

The US has underestimated the consequences of the attack on Chinese telecom giant Huawei as it sends a strong signal for the rest of the world to avoid dealing with such an unstable partner, professor Richard Wolff believes.

As Wall Street reels from the shock of a trade war exploding to new heights in the form of tariffs and counter tariffs, there’s another reality that is setting in — that China seems happy to walk away from trade talks.

Last week, US trade authorities published a preliminary list of EU products which could face additional duties in retaliation to EU subsidies to Airbus. The EU, in turn, stated on Tuesday that it will release on Wednesday a list of products that might face new duties over US state subsidies to aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has sought to recruit some of the top oil industry guns to serve as Washington’s foreign policy tools to crack down on “bad actors” like Venezuela, Russia and Iran.

Trade turnover between Russia and China soared by nearly 30 percent in 2018, reaching a record number of $107.06 billion, according to the latest report released by China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC). The agency noted that last year Russian imports of Chinese goods increased by 12 percent to $47.98 billion.