China has been known as the “world factory” for too long for anyone to expect trade deficit. Its trade numbers was surprising as it registered a $7.3 billion trade deficit, its first since last March. The growth rate for import beats that of export. As mentioned in the article, this is likely due to the Chinese New Year as factories had longer than expected holidays. The holiday tends to last a few weeks rather than the few days set as public holiday. This has left the factory empty and lead to decrease in exports produced. I agree with the author but the increase in import is also an important factor contributing to the trade deficit. With China’s booming economy, the Chinese consumers are getting richer and their spending power increases. They are more willing and able to afford more expensive imported products that are deemed to have better quality than local produce. This may lead us thinking this may occur regularly and China will no longer be the country of exports, but not so fast. The impact of Chinese New Year on export is bigger than that of import. The privileged rich ones are still limited and the vast majority would still be unable to afford imports.