Sounds like the Trump Tariffs aren’t exactly working as planned. Especially given that our deficit with China grew by nearly $44 billion last year, and our deficit with Mexico jumped by nearly 15%.Also, the damage from the rising trade deficit isn’t just that we’re spending more than we’re sending out, to levels that we last saw right before the Great Recession. It’s also that we havent seen that much of an increase in wages in the US from that protection, particularly in manufacturing and agriculture.Agriculture in particular got shelled. Real exports in “foods, feeds and beverages” are down year-over-year in each of the last 4 months, and soybean exports were down more than $4 billion in 2018 vs 2017.
Via Jake’s Wisconsin Funhouse: Trade deficit keeps blowing up. Not how Trump Tariffs were supposed to go