Topic: Trade Deficits
“In contrast to Lassman, Navarro thinks that “trade deficits matter a great deal.””
Trump is famously obsessed with trade deficits, and, like tariffs, doesn’t understand what they are or how they work. More commentary on that in the analysis linked below.
Full contextual analysis of Section 4: The Economy here.
“The great football coach Bill Parcells once said, “You are what your record says you are.” America’s record on trade – specifically American’s chronic and ever-expanding trade deficit – says that America is the globe’s biggest trade loser and a victim of unfair, unbalanced, and nonreciprocal trade.”
This is Navarro continuing to misunderstand trade deficits, claiming that the U.S. is a “victim” of them. That’s not how this works.
I include this quote for the irony – if you are what your record says you are, then Peter Navarro’s record suggests that he is indeed a hack, a liar, a conspiracy theorist, and a convicted felon.
Full contextual analysis of Section 4.6: Trade here.
“In Scenario One, if all 132 countries were to lower their higher nonreciprocal tariffs to U.S. levels, the overall U.S. trade deficit in goods would be reduced by $58.3 billion, or about 9.4% of that deficit. In contrast, in Scenario Two, if these countries were to refuse to reciprocate and the U.S. were to raise its tariffs to mirror those countries’ levels, the reduction in the U.S. trade deficit would be slightly larger: an estimate $63.6 billion, or 10.2% of the deficit. This suggests that implementing the USRTA would help to create between 350,000 and 380,000 jobs.”
This statement is based on highly questionable/variable assumptions. This is explained in the analysis below.
Full contextual analysis of Section 4.6: Trade here.