China’s oil consumption hits record high in first quarter
Soaring oil prices have not slowed China’s consumption of oil as statistics show that China’s apparent consumption of crude oil and refined oil products both hit record highs in the first quarter of the year.
According to statistics released Tuesday by the

Global trade growth is expected to slow to a six-year low of 4.5 per cent this year but China has overtaken the US as the world’s second-biggest exporter, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said yesterday.
Heavily influenced by the turmoil in financial markets and the sharp economic slowdown in leading western economies, global merchandise trade is [...]

It is obvious that the two countries are moving in opposite directions. That is why global investors continue to be long China and Short the United States.
These trends will only increase in strength over the long term. There will, of course be short and intermediate run corrections to this trend as prices get [...]