Now shopping mall giant (Dalian) Wanda, owned by Chinaâs richest man Wang Jianlin, and Vanke, the worldâs biggest residential real estate developer, founded by the mountaineering-loving Wang Shi, have âstunned the capital markets,â in the words of Chinese news site The Paper, by announcing a âstrategic partnership.â.
The second macroeconomic consideration of increased imports is the impact on exchange rates. As we have shown in the previous section, as U.S. consumers increase their consumption of imports, the supply of dollars in foreign exchange markets rises.
As noted earlier, a change in the exchange rate can, in the short run, affect the demand for and supply of commodities, and the competitiveness of US agriculture. When the US dollar strengthens or gains in value, it causes importers to pay more for the US dollar to buy US commodities. While a stronger US dollar increases prices for importing (foreign) countries, it decreases the demand for US commodities abroad.