Exports and China...

"China exports more than $4 of goods to the United States for each $1 it imports from America, creating a trade surplus of about $275 billion.", according to an article in the January 31, 2011 New York Times.

To put the the size of China's trade surplus in perspective, that surplus is nearly the size of Mexico's total exports ($298 billion) in 2010. China's trade surplus exceeded the $257 billion Mexico earned from its manufactured exports.

Rising costs in China have already caused a slowdown in American orders, which has translated into "some container shipping lines to cancel up to a quarter of their trips to the United States this spring from Hong Kong and other Chinese ports... the annual pre-[Chinese] New Year rush has been nothing like that of recent years, causing shipping lines to reverse rate increases and cancel sailings they introduced last summer as the American economy improved."

This is an opportunity for Mexico as well as other Asian manufacturers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/business/global/31trade.html?pagewanted=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25