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Hey Trump, U.S. Trade Deficit At 10-Year High, Certain to Increase in 2019
Per the Murdoch-owned, conservative Wall Street Journal, Trump is an idiot.
The U.S. trade deficit looks almost certain to expand in the year ahead, and that will have important consequences for the economy.
Trump has pledged to narrow the trade deficit, but in 2018 it has widened instead, coming to $503 billion in the year through October versus $451 billion over the same period in 2017.
Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum were announced in March of 2018. At that time, the US trade deficit with the rest of the world stood at $68.5 billion. As of this July, that number had increased to $72 billion. The most recent number, from October of this year, shows the trade deficit increasing to $76.98 billion.
Trump, put simply, is stupid. He's loudly harping on a topic that he then MAKES WORSE.
Trump seems to fundamentally misunderstand how international trade works.
...the president’s tariffs have, predictably, had the opposite effect: the month-to-month trade deficit with the rest of the world is higher in 2018 than it was in 2017, and by all accounts the total bilateral trade deficit between the United States and China for 2018 will easily surpass the 2017 number.
...because of Mr. Trump’s own policies... the threat that the U.S. will introduce even more tariffs has led U.S. companies to front-load imports in an effort to save money.
Sources:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-one-sure-thing-about-trade-11545912001