Tim Fernholz visited America’s busiest seaport and wrote about what he learnt:

• Instead of drugs or weapons, the biggest source of contraband goods entering the United States is actually fake designer clothing.
• The port’s number one export by volume is air – in the form of containers that go back empty since America imports far more than it exports.
• Recently however America has started filling the containers with trash which can be recycled cheaply in China. The port has a mega-shredder to tear up cars and other large items.
• Geopolitical concerns don’t matter as much. Evergreen, a Taiwanese company, has no qualms working with Chinese freight.

The full article goes into much more depth and looks at a wider variety of the aspects of international trade. Read it here.

Source: Quartz