Obama plans historic trip to Cuba to further ties

Obama plans historic trip to Cuba to further ties

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will pay a historic visit to Cuba in the coming weeks, senior Obama administration officials said, becoming the first president to set foot on the island in nearly seven decades.

The brief visit in mid-March will mark a watershed moment for relations between the U.S. and Cuba, a communist nation estranged from the U.S. for over half a century until Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro moved toward rapprochement more than a year ago. Since then, the nations have reopened embassies in Washington and Havana and have moved to restore commercial air travel, with a presidential visit seen as a key next step toward bridging the divide.

U.S. merchandise trade deficit with China hit record in 2015
china

U.S. merchandise trade deficit with China hit record in 2015

CNS News

(CNSNews.com) – The merchandise trade deficit that the United States ran with China in 2015 hit a record high of $365,694,000,000, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

"The deficit with China increased $22.6 billion to $365.7 billion in 2015," the BEA said in a press release. "Exports decreased $7.5 billion to $116.2 billion and imports increased $15.1 billion to $481.9 billion."

Read More