China pushes harder to join the TPP

<p>Kia ora,</p><p>Welcome to Friday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand.</p><p>I'm David Chaston and this is the International edition from Interest.co.nz.</p><p>Today we lead with news China is making a new push to join the TPP.</p><p>First we should note that cereals, dairy prices, and especially prices for vegetable oils have driven <a href="https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/foodpricesindex/en/" target="_blank"><strong>global food prices</strong></a> to a ten year high. Meat prices were flat. Cereal prices, especially for <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/wheat" target="_blank"><strong>wheat</strong></a>, are being driven up by constrained supply from Northern Hemisphere producers. Southern Hemisphere producers are in a golden phase where they have higher output with these higher prices. Australia is a major beneficiary.</p><p>In the US <a href="https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OPA/newsreleases/ui-claims/20211957.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>jobless claims</strong></a> last week fell to 240,000 and taking the total number of people on these benefits to 1,890,000 and back to pre-pandemic levels</p><p>In September, US <a href="https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/current_press_release/ft900.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>exports fell and imports rose</strong></a>, so the balance of trade in goods and services was a deficit that rose to a record -US$80.9 from -US$72.8 bln in August. A lot of that worsening came from large falls in exports of gold and oil. Imports rose largely because businesses are buying capital goods. This September result takes the annual deficit to -US835.6 bln or -3.6% of GDP. That is up from -2.7% of GDP in 2019.</p><p>The very active US economy has seen <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.nr0.htm" target="_blank"><strong>labour costs jumped at an +8.3% rate</strong></a> in the third quarter of 2021, more than market forecasts of +7% rise. At this level it is now suddenly undermining