If the trade deficit is a topic that arises in your OM class, a visual image of the Port of New York and New Jersey is worth 1,000 words. Fortune (Nov.15,2010,pp.14-15) discusses the “Container City” one passes in driving on the NJ Turnpike. 
In the first 8 months of 2010, 70,000 more full cargo containers entered the Port than left it. In other terms, 45% of the containers exported from the Port are empty, a reflection of the US trade imbalance. Yet a 3rd statistic: 1.80 to 1 is the ratio of imports to exports, up from 1.75 to 1 last year.
Six of the world’s largest ports are now in China, up from two just a decade ago. The largest port in the US in the Port of Los Angeles, the world’s 
16th biggest, down from 8th ranked a decade ago.
What all of this means, of course, is that we are running a huge trade deficit, of which the logistics imbalance is one surrogate measure. Who benefits? My cousin Bob is the only one I know. He ships scrap metal to China for recycling and pays only a fraction of the shipping charges he would if he were sending from China to the US.
President Obama’s Nov. 2010 trip to Asia was partly designed to address the huge U.S. trade imbalance. And, recently, the Federal Reserve took measures that may result in a weaker dollar. Historically, a weaker dollar has led to more U.S. exports and, presumably, the creation of U.S. jobs. However, such direct consequences may not appear this time around. The New York Times has a nice article discussing various sides of the issue (“Weaker Dollar Seen as Unlikely to Cure Joblessness,” 11/15/10).