US trade gap hits $566 billion - Highest since 2009

[_Kevin Graham]

US trade gap hits $566 billion in 2017, highest since 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. trade deficit hit the highest level in nine years in 2017, defying President Donald Trump’s efforts to bring more balance to America’s trade relationships.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the trade gap in goods and services rose to $566 billion last year, the highest level since $708.7 billion in 2008. Imports set a record $2.9 trillion, swamping exports of $2.3 trillion.

The U.S. ran an $810 billion deficit in the trade of goods and a $244 billion surplus in services such as banking and education.

The goods deficit with China hit a record $375.2 billion in 2017, and the goods gap with Mexico rose to $71.1 billion. Trump has sought to reduce the deficits with China and Mexico. His administration is weighing whether to impose trade sanctions on China for the theft of U.S. intellectual property. It is also renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada.

The overall December trade deficit in goods and services rose to $53.1 billion, up from $50.4 billion in November and highest since October 2008.

Countries run trade deficits when they buy more from other countries than they sell.

Trump sees trade deficits as a sign of economic weakness and largely as the result of unfair competition by America’s trading partners. Most economists see them largely as the result of bigger economic forces: Americans spend more than they produce, and imports fill the gap.

[_cinepro]

That's fantastic. If we got $566 billion worth of stuff sent to us and we didn't have to send anything back other than "money" (which isn't actually a service or resource, but is a promise for future value), then we came out way ahead.

We are totally winning this trade thing.

And did Trump ever explain why he thinks trade should be "balanced" between any two countries? No one thinks "trade" between two people or companies or states needs to be "balanced." That's the whole reason we have money. I go to the grocery store and instead of having balanced trade with them, I take their food and give them money, and then they take my money and use it to trade with someone else.

[_subgenius]

I hate to interrupt, but does anyone have a source where Trump speaks specifically about trade deficit? I mean, i have read/heard him speak about trade deals, trade treaties, trade policy, etc. But i can't find anything specific to an opinion on trade deficits.

A quote as opposed to some partisan reference to a speculative opinion piece would be much appreciated.

[Guest]

I hate to interrupt, but does anyone have a source where Trump speaks specifically about trade deficit? I mean, i have read/heard him speak about trade deals, trade treaties, trade policy, etc. But i can't find anything specific to an opinion on trade deficits.

A quote as opposed to some partisan reference to a speculative opinion piece would be much appreciated.

...don't say anything about what a mentally challenged turd burger subfaps is, don't say anything about what a mentally challenged turd burger subfaps is....breathe....

Hmmm...yes, our cheeto-pimple in chief certainly isn't talking about trade deficits when he mentions "deals, treaties or policy" because he never specifically said deficit in any of the articles that you probably didn't/couldn't read anyway.

Oh, wait, its right on the white house website:

"That is why we have almost an $800-billion-a-year trade deficit with other nations. Unacceptable. We are going to start whittling that down, and as fast as possible."

...directly from the orange chimps remarks after his trip to asia....

or how about direct quotes on abc:

" President Donald Trump says he'll work "as fast as possible" to eliminate sizable trade deficits with U.S. trading partners.

Trump said Wednesday that a key goal of his just-concluded Asia trip was to insist on fair and reciprocal trade. He says it's "unacceptable" that the U.S. trade deficit with other nations stands at about $800 billion a year.

Trump says, "We are going to start whittling that down as fast as possible." He did not say how he planned to achieve that goal.

Trump is recapping what he says are the successes of his nearly two-week trip to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines."

maybe the ny times or any other news source that reported on that particular meeting:

"President Trump has repeatedly promised to reduce the trade deficit, which he again described as “unacceptable” in a speech on Wednesday after a trip to Asia.

“We are going to start whittling that down, and as fast as possible,” he said."

[_Doctor Steuss]

I hate to interrupt, but does anyone have a source where Trump speaks specifically about trade deficit? I mean, i have read/heard him speak about trade deals, trade treaties, trade policy, etc. But i can't find anything specific to an opinion on trade deficits.

A quote as opposed to some partisan reference to a speculative opinion piece would be much appreciated.

While some of his statements are somewhat ambiguous about the deficit, a few of the below are pretty straight forward, I think.

From The White House:

That is why we have almost an $800-billion-a-year trade deficit with other nations. Unacceptable. We are going to start whittling that down, and as fast as possible.

I also had very candid conversations with President Xi about the need to reduce our staggering trade deficit with China...

During our visit, President Moon and I also discussed America’s commitment to reducing our trade deficit with South Korea. At my discretion and direction, we are currently renegotiating the disastrous U.S.-Korea trade agreement signed under the previous administration. It has been a disaster for the United States.

One of President Trump's Executive Orders:

Many United States free trade agreements, investment agreements, and trade relations have failed, in whole or in part, to meet these criteria. The result has been large and persistent trade deficits...

From the Oval Office:

The jobs and wealth have been stripped from our country. Year after year, decade after decade, trade deficit upon trade deficit — reaching more than $700 billion last year alone, and lots of jobs. Thousands of factories have been stolen from our country.

Executive Order:

The mission of the OTMP is to defend and serve American workers and domestic manufacturers while advising the President on policies to increase economic growth, decrease the trade deficit, and strengthen the United States manufacturing and defense industrial bases.

Speaking at the Hilton:

All over the world they took advantage of us. We had leaders that didn’t have a clue or worse. That’s not going to happen anymore, folks. That’s not going to happen anymore. And you see what’s going on right now. In fact, the trade deficit went way down — just announced before I got on stage.

No longer will we listen to those failed consultants who’ve made one wrong prediction after another — delivering nothing but soaring trade deficits and a big, fat, shrinking workforce.

Lunch With Republicans:

We have tremendous losses with Mexico and losses with Canada, and covered by NAFTA. Last year, we lost approximately $71 billion in trade deficit; we have a trade deficit with Mexico of $71 billion. With Canada, it was about $17 billion.

We have trade deficits with everybody. Virtually every country in the world we have trade deficits with. And that’s going to be changing — it’s already changing — but it’s going to be changing fast.

Bilateral Meeting:

Thank you very much. The fact is that the United States has trade deficits with many, many countries, and we cannot allow that to continue. And we’ll start with South Korea right now. But we cannot allow that to continue. This is really a statement that I make about all trade. For many, many years, the United States has suffered through massive trade deficits. That’s why we have $20 trillion in debt. So we’ll be changing that.

While In Beijing:

I do blame past administrations for allowing this out-of-control trade deficit to take place and to grow. We have to fix this because it just doesn’t work for our great American companies, and it doesn’t work for our great American workers.

While In Korea:

...we don’t want to have trade deficits.

From the Whitehous:

President Donald J. Trump is committed to addressing the economic woes that have plagued our Nation for too long.
-The United States trade deficit…

Readout Of Call With China:

...President Trump expressed disappointment that the United States’ trade deficit...

And so forth.

[_Kevin Graham]

I hate to interrupt, but does anyone have a source where Trump speaks specifically about trade deficit? I mean, i have read/heard him speak about trade deals, trade treaties, trade policy, etc. But i can't find anything specific to an opinion on trade deficits.

A quote as opposed to some partisan reference to a speculative opinion piece would be much appreciated.

While some of his statements are somewhat ambiguous about the deficit, a few of the below are pretty straight forward, I think.

[SNIP!]

And so forth.

Can't imagine how you found all of those direct comments from Lord Trump in such a short amount of time. It is almost as if you're producing data via magic or something. Hopefully, one day subs can get with the program.

I mean, Jesus H. Christ, if you can't friggin google basic information as this, you really have no business speaking on the subject. Like, ever.

[_Kevin Graham]

That's fantastic. If we got $566 billion worth of stuff sent to us and we didn't have to send anything back other than "money" (which isn't actually a service or resource, but is a promise for future value), then we came out way ahead.

We are totally winning this trade thing.

And did Trump ever explain why he thinks trade should be "balanced" between any two countries? No one thinks "trade" between two people or companies or states needs to be "balanced." That's the whole reason we have money. I go to the grocery store and instead of having balanced trade with them, I take their food and give them money, and then they take my money and use it to trade with someone else.

There you go making perfect sense, which doesn't compute with Trump. He has his boogeyman (China) and he won't give in to your black magic attempts to confuse the situation.

[_Res Ipsa]

That's fantastic. If we got $566 billion worth of stuff sent to us and we didn't have to send anything back other than "money" (which isn't actually a service or resource, but is a promise for future value), then we came out way ahead.

We are totally winning this trade thing.

And did Trump ever explain why he thinks trade should be "balanced" between any two countries? No one thinks "trade" between two people or companies or states needs to be "balanced." That's the whole reason we have money. I go to the grocery store and instead of having balanced trade with them, I take their food and give them money, and then they take my money and use it to trade with someone else.

That's the piece of this I really don't understand. Although I was never big on the Chicago School types, I thought Milton Friedman explained this concept very clearly: when we give someone a little stuff and get a whole bunch of stuff back, we're winning. It's not that hard to understand.

Doesn't Trump have any economic advisers that can explain to him that his understanding of trade deficits is exactly backwards? That the notion of winning he uses in real estate transactions (coming out with the most money) doesn't apply to international trade?

[_Xenophon]

Doesn't Trump have any economic advisers that can explain to him that his understanding of trade deficits is exactly backwards? That the notion of winning he uses in real estate transactions (coming out with the most money) doesn't apply to international trade?

Perhaps all his advisers are like Subgenius and somehow completely block out of their brains the fact that Trump has these backwards ideas on trade deficits? Maybe they keep trying but he focuses too much on deficit and leaves off the trade vs budget part? Has he exhibited much capacity for learning, especially in these later stages?

[_schreech]

That's fantastic. If we got $566 billion worth of stuff sent to us and we didn't have to send anything back other than "money" (which isn't actually a service or resource, but is a promise for future value), then we came out way ahead.

We are totally winning this trade thing.

And did Trump ever explain why he thinks trade should be "balanced" between any two countries? No one thinks "trade" between two people or companies or states needs to be "balanced." That's the whole reason we have money. I go to the grocery store and instead of having balanced trade with them, I take their food and give them money, and then they take my money and use it to trade with someone else.

That's the piece of this I really don't understand. Although I was never big on the Chicago School types, I thought Milton Friedman explained this concept very clearly: when we give someone a little stuff and get a whole bunch of stuff back, we're winning. It's not that hard to understand.

Doesn't Trump have any economic advisers that can explain to him that his understanding of trade deficits is exactly backwards? That the notion of winning he uses in real estate transactions (coming out with the most money) doesn't apply to international trade?

Trump's "thinking" is based on the outdated notion that we need to go back to the good old days of being a manufacturing country. His shallow understanding of economics leads him to believe that american manufacturing somehow leads to a net creation in jobs and a "better" america...Sort of a very one dimensional and less intelligent Charles Foster Kane who craves a simpler time where things are made in america, coal powered our houses, colored people and women knew their place, bluster and "tough talk" were virtues, the "jineeese" stayed in their part of town and were still played by white people in the movies..."Mcdonalds" will be his "rosebud"....