In all negotiations each side has advantages and disadvantages, most of them are known but each side brings something the other side does not think they have as an advantage. The biggest negotiations in the world are between the 2 biggest economies China and the US. Over the years, the US evolved into the number one consumer economy or service based, while China developed into the number one manufacturing economy.

In an article by Alexandra Stevenson of the New York Times News Service, China believes it has advantages such as a monopoly as the world’s supply of critical materials. It also has an advantage of booming factories.

The strength is on display in the city of Yiwu, home of the world’s largest wholesale market where toys, home electronics and drones are stuffed into complexes that span multiple city blocks. Yiwu unveiled another trade center that is the size of hundreds of football fields (think of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago), the names are International Business and Trade City, Yiwu International Expo Center, and Yiwu International Trade Mart, Shopping and Touring Area. The city is located southwest of Shanghai.

Much of the merchandise used to be sent to the US, but tariffs force a change and now new buyers in Europe and Southeast Asia are making up for the loss in US traffic.

China’s factories are helping produce a trade surplus with the world of $875 billion.

There are trouble signs in the overall economy as Chinese consumers cut back on their spending. However, at the moment new markets in Southeast Asia and South Africa are opening up.

The question mark of increased trade to other countries outside the US, is will they allow free trade to continue or will they impose tariffs?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, all companies have advantages and disadvantages, for example having a billion-dollar product is a very good thing, J & J had dozens of them. The advantage to own J & J is if all the products remain stagnate, it was going to be a good year, but if one of them catches fire and sells even more it will be a great year. If you own dividend producing companies, your risk goes down and hopefully the reward can go higher.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.