(MW) The January U.S. trade deficit rose by 15 percent to $46.3 billion.  Import growth nearly doubled export growth, and the deficit with China stood at $23.2 billion. 
 
Meanwhile, China has a temporary $7.3 billion trade deficit (ZH) in February, driven by the lunar new year (when production slows) and oil imports (which rose dramatically). The unreliable number is also driven by politics (WSJ), with a Treasury decision (Bloomberg) due on April 15 regarding China’s currency manipulation.     

FT: While China’s politburo would like the currency manipulation issue to disappear, that isn’t likely to happen anytime soon. 

FT: Germany’s trade surplus is shrinking.  And that’s good news for “rebalancing” efforts. 

Bloomberg: The Obama Administration looks seriously at streamlining the U.S. trade bureaucracy, which now involves 12 agencies. 

MLive: Why did Evergreen Solar shift jobs from Massachusetts to China? The answer is subsidies, not labor costs. 

Bloomberg: A new poll shows that Americans do not think we are on the road to a lasting economy recovery.