Economy, Exports | featured news

President Obama urged other world leaders Wednesday to reduce their reliance on exports to the United States to drive their economic growth, stressing a need to resolve global imbalances such as China's huge trade surplus.

Export growth is propelled by higher prices for many products, including wheat, whose prices have skyrocketed as drought and heat struck Russia.

Growth in Japan's economy slowed to a crawl in the second quarter and analysts see more weakness ahead, adding to policymakers' headaches as they grapple with deflation and a rise in the yen that threatens an export-reliant recovery.

So the question isn't whether the Chinese economy will change, but how. The optimistic view is that Chinese leaders will slow their investment and credit boom, and at the same time make a transition to a consumer-led economy that doesn't depend so much on exports.

Japan's economy grew at a faster than expected pace last quarter, as steady exports to Asia and support from government stimulus measures prevent another downturn in the region's largest economy.

The yen’s strength prompted fresh concerns among Japan’s export giants, and could delay its move out of the deepest recession in decades.

A lower dollar appears to be boosting the U.S. economy only gradually, with higher prices on imported oil helping outweigh the benefit of cheaper American exports....

The global economic recovery has begun but sustaining it will require refocusing the United States toward exports and Asia toward imports, the International Monetary Fund's chief economist said.

The U.S. economy shrank at its fastest pace since 1982 in the fourth quarter and corporate profits plunged a record $120.1 billion, pulled down by falling consumer spending and exports, government data showed on Thursday.