For real, qualified, experienced economists, Trump’s moves are completely baffling, unless he’s TRYING to wreck the economy.

 

‘Totally Stupid.’ Trump’s Focus on Trade Deficit Bewilders Economists.

Behind Trump’s new tariffs is a goal that is as ignorant as it is unrealistic: eliminating the bilateral trade deficit with every U.S. trading partner.

Nearly all economists say that focusing on imbalances from country to country can be highly misleading, and destructive.

Last year, for example, the United States ran bilateral trade surpluses with 116 countries globally. It ran bilateral trade deficits with 114 countries, according to World Bank data.

Often these relationships just follow the flow of trade, without suggesting much about a country’s trade practices overall. Matthew Klein, who writes about economics for The Overshoot, points out that the United States runs a trade surplus with Australia because it sends out lots of machinery, transportation equipment and chemicals. Australia runs a trade surplus with China, sending it iron ore, natural gas and gold. And China runs a trade surplus with the United States by sending it car parts, electronics and batteries.