Rising Imports

Low prices on imports had checked
The inflation the Feds would project,
But metals and wages
May have a contagious-
ly Inflationary effect.

The US had long imported disinflation along with t-shirts, toys and tchochkes from China, but lately a combination of higher commodity prices, currency moves including a strengthening yuan, and wage pressures in China and elsewhere have boosted the prices of manufactured goods imported into the US.  According to the latest figures from the Labor Department, manufactured imported goods have gone from a source of disinflation to its opposite.