Trade deficit polls, Ukraine, China's population
In today's issue we explore a trade deficit poll, Russia-Ukraine, China's shrinking population and the scale of the US coffee habit.
The trade deficit may not matter to most Americans - In an admittedly small survey by a trusted pollster (YouGov), the trade deficit was ranked by respondents as a relatively low order issue (just 30% believe it is a very serious problem). As Cameron Abadi said on this week’s Ones and Tooze, the ‘tide has gone out’ following last week’s chaos, and what’s been left behind is a total trade decoupling from China. This will hit American consumers. The question is how much will they tolerate? And for how long?
Russia’s advance in Ukraine is slowing - The Institute for the Study of War, a estimates Russian gains at 203sq km (78sq miles) in March, 354sq km (137sq miles) in February and 427sq km (165sq miles) in January. This is significant as ceasefire negotiations rumble on.
There are more than four million Ukrainians under temporary protection in the EU - Germany has the most, at 1.18 million, whilst neighbouring Poland has the highest ratio of Ukrainians per 1000 people.
China’s share of the global population is shrinking rapidly - The reasons for this are by now well-established. First, decades of restrictive family-planning policies have made a lasting impact. Second, China's current fertility rate remains extremely low—around 1.0—similar to other advanced East Asian nations.
Americans consume a lot of coffee - the average American consumes a whopping 33 coffee trees a year.
