Do you ever wonder who imports the most containers?  Or what we ship the most in exporting containers? This report by the Association of American Railroads has revealing data.

The big box retailers do the most importing. (pg 5 of report).  Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Sears.

The top 10 container exporters account for less than half the number of the top 10 container importers.  And who is the top exporter?  American Chung Nam… the top exporter of recovered paper.  Who is second?  International Paper, which I’m willing to bet exports recovered paper for recycling offshore.

It’s not just recycled paper, but scrap metal.  We are a major scrap metal exporter to China, which recycles it into new steel in government owned steel mills to ship back to the United States.   See this article:

Chinese steel mills might soon move to boost imports of ferrous scrap, particularly from U.S. suppliers, amid a tightness in supply and expectations of a post-summer rebound in steel mill production.

The “free traders” said we would move up the value chain.  But we are a raw material exporter, like a 19th century African colony.  Raw materials are our biggest exports by volume.  We import high tech stuff… electronics, robotics, nanotech… so we have a trade deficit in advanced tech (not to mention the trade deficit in most other value added categories).

That win-win stuff didn’t work out like they said, so we don’t produce enough to employ our citizens.  Why does anyone believe the free traders anymore?  When have they ever been right?