Strong Job Market Bolsters U.S. Economy, Says Jared Bernstein

On a Port of Los Angeles-hosted media call, Jared Bernstein, Chair of the United States Council of Economic Advisers, offered up some details on how he views the current state of the economy, with a freight focus.

Addressing U.S.-bound imports, Bernstein explained that a lot of what is coming in and what is going out are intermediate, meaning they are inputs into the overall production process, not finished goods.

“Those are important,” he said. “When the Trump administration put a tariff on aluminum, one of the one of the first companies that came and asked for an exemption from that tariff was Alcoa, the largest American aluminum company. That was because they're obviously getting inputs that they need to streamline their production. So, I think that when we're thinking about trade flows and why we still support robust, fair trade flows and worker-centered trade flows, we should be mindful of these inputs.”

In terms of the broader economy, he observed that imports represent around 15% of GDP, with exports around 12%, with the difference representing the trade deficit.

Visit Logistics Management to view the full story.