Why is Donald Trump obsessed with trade deficits?published at 17:24 Greenwich Mean Time
Faisal Islam
Economics editor
President
Trump is clearly fixated with the trade deficit, specifically the balance of
buying and selling various goods between various countries and jurisdictions.
In
the case of Canada, this is not the official pretext or legal power
for the current set of tariffs. But the US does run a trade deficit with
Canada, which the president mentions, repeatedly.
Mark Carney, who is running to replace Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party, and others point
out that most of that is accounted for by energy exports, upon which American mid-western refineries are 100% dependent right now.
Trump’s long standing animus with the EU comes about from its substantial goods
trade surplus, arising from, for example, high-end German car exports.
I
put this precise point to the EU Trade Commissioner…
