There is nothing wrong with the US having a large trade deficit. Speaking of "the US's" trade deficit obscures the issue. (Obsessing over it also, IMO, confuses voters w/r/t to the US government's spending deficit. This also, IMO, is the deficit that Trump should be focusing more of his attention on.)
Why do I say that referring to it as the US's trade deficit obscures the issue? Because it isn't per se the US's trade deficit. It is the aggregate deficit of all US persons and companies. So if you, personally, this year spent $100 more buying Chinese goods and services than people in China bought goods that you produced, that would contribute $100 to the 2018 annual trade deficit with China.
What this means is that you--you personally--and every other American citizen, is making a choice. You are choosing to buy foreign made goods, rather than buy them domestically. Probably because they were able to sell them to you more cheaply than you could get them domestically. There is literally nothing wrong with this. There also is nothing wrong with foreign countries not wanting to buy our goods and services. Trying to force them to is on par with Opium Wars-style imperialism.
> trying this hard to convince us of something we don't want.
Landon Ross
nice argument faggot
Evan Gomez
up
Jaxon Cook
Do Countries with Large Trade deficits have great job security and lower unemployment?
Sebastian Ward
free trade wont work because usa and china dont play by the same rules
Landon Carter
i'm not aware of any data linking trade deficits with job security and unemployment but intuitively i think you're right that the two are probably linked. this ultimately is a value judgment though: as a society should we rather have job security and reduced unemployment, or cheaper goods and services (restated: your money won't buy as much)? would we rather allow people the freedom to choose (to trade freely), or impose restrictions on trade (reduce choice freedom)?
further there is the question of, if National Trade Deficits matter, why within the US do state-level trade deficits not matter? county-level trade deficits? city-level trade deficits? block-level trade deficits? citizen-level trade deficits? block-level trade deficits?
Jaxson Jenkins
you are a disgrace to your meme flag
Jacob Taylor
up
Robert Rivera
>makes a point about macroeconomics >doesn't understand balance of payments
Noah Cooper
>just let the world dump all their products in your local economy >don't worry about the loss of jobs >being a sucker is more important than getting out of poverty
Gavin Wright
>interstate trade deficits should also then matter Wrong. There is no dumping / trade-barriers / subsidies between states. Where there are, it should be looked at. Free trade should always be the end goal. Putting in 40 hours of work in Germany, USA or China should have the same outcome.
Jordan Collins
Do you want a housing bubble and a tuition bubble? Because unrestricted free trade with bad actors who protect their own economies will always lead to them. Chang has to spend those dollars he earns slinging shoddy sweatshop produced junk somewhere. He's going to send his kids to school here, crowding out american kids when there are more dollars chasing after fewer slots by inflating the price, and he's going to buy land, residential housing, commercial property, and businesses, also crowding out americans. Chang is not us. Hans is not us. Jose is not us. These people are hostile towards our own interests. The essence of statecraft is taking care of your own people first, not whoring them out to foreign powers because the happy merchant swears on his mother's eyes that this is a good idea. Wide open free trade with america is good for non-americans. For americans, it's shit.
Nathaniel Taylor
not an argument faggot
Christopher Allen
your post is retarded. the trade deficit has nothing to do with the housing bubble and the tuition bubbles. in fact, foreigners sending their kids to US schools and buying US homes would probably actually reduce the deficit depending on how it's calculated. both bubbles are instead due to US government interference in both respective markets.
Easton Young
Regardless of how significant a factor the return of u.s. dollars acquired by foreigners in trade is in the housing and tuition bubbles, and that is debatable, no american in their right mind wants their government to cut trade deals which result in a lopsided transaction where Chang is swapping sweatshop junk in exchange for u.s. college seats and real assets. Trading cheap junk for real assets is a fucking scam, and the merchant put that one over because he is charging brokerage fees on these cons.
Jordan Barnes
every state has innumerable special tax deals for particular companies/industries
Jace Stewart
>trying to explain economics to Jow Forums Kek. The only thing Jow Forums can comprehend is identity politics, and it even lacks there
Logan Campbell
>if National Trade Deficits matter, why within the US do state-level trade deficits not matter? county-level trade deficits? city-level trade deficits? block-level trade deficits? citizen-level trade deficits? block-level trade deficits? Ever watch a team sport on television? You know how one team wears red, and the other wears blue, and they go out and compete against each other? National deficits matter because foreigners are not us. They have opposing interests to our own. The people who legally reside within our borders are us, and everyone outside our borders is not us. Trade between u.s. states is trade between our selves, and beneficial by definition. Trade with foreigners, is trade with others who are not us, and that is a good of the second rank, one that always carries considerations of national sovereignty, because being dominated by a foreign power is patently bad.
>Letting the red team score unlimited goals on you because, like, we're all one race, man, the human race Who is the retard here?
Camden Johnson
trade isn't zero sum. each party engages in it because they benefit.
Julian Green
Stop putting words in my mouth. I never said trade with foreigners is a zero sum game, only that trade between citizens of our own nation is a good of the first rank, and that trade between us and foreigners is a good of the second rank. You put your own people first, you get your own people sorted out, then you go and figure out how much trade you are willing to do with foreigners. You want us to sacrifice our own people on the alter of globalism, but that is over and in the past.
Jordan Evans
You claimed that buying a foreigner's goods is them scoring a goal on you. Excuse me if I read that as you thinking that trade is zero sum. Sports have never been my thing.
Oliver Morales
It's not a perfect analogy for the broader question of free trade, but it handles the issue of >Why do we treat some people one way, and others differently pretty well. I have locks on my doors to keep you out. It's nothing personal, but I don't know you. You are not me, and you are not my own. I may unlock my door for you on certain occasions, for example if you work for a bug exterminator, and it's time to spray for termites, but I'm not going to give you a key to my house, and when the job is over, if you don't leave or behave properly, I'll get some law to escort you out, or maybe even defend myself.
Jonathan Johnson
why would the other country/person/city still sell you things if you don't pay them
