Jedidajah Otte Wed 5 Mar 2025 10.10 EST
"Since Donald Trump began his tariff threats against Canada and his ‘jokes’ about making Canada the 51st US state, I have not bought a single product originating in the US,” said Lynne Allardice, 78, a retired business owner from New Brunswick, Canada.
“Not a single lettuce leaf or piece of fruit. I have become an avid reader of labels and have adopted an ‘anywhere but the US’ policy when shopping. I will not visit the States while Trump remains in office, and most of the people I know have adopted the same policy.”"
I was busy but I would still like to answer this because there is so much wrong with this comment. You seem to have no basic understanding of macro-economics so I will have to put it simply: trade deficits are NOT the same as a net negative spending balance. Just like national debt is NOT the same as a negative account balance. And most importantly both give no indication of how wealthy a country really is. It is much more complicated than that on national levels. The US is benefitting greatly from its trade deficits through the resulting capital account surplus, but you can read up on that if you actually care. Tarriffs wont “fix” a problem that doesnt exist. All they do is make stuff more expensive which is basically a tax raise. Regarding debt, its statistically more like the opposite. The countries with the most debt are almost exclusively among the wealthiest. Still, no real indication and the US is not exceptionally indebted (ranked 42 by debt-per-GDP).
Regarding the war, the US has contributed 0.5% of its GDP, thats rank 17 on a list of 41 countries. The US is a huge country, you cant just compare absolute numbers. None of them asked anything in return either. Oh wait, either is wrong. The US and UK are the only countries that DID ask of Ukraine to sign the Budapest Memorandum in exchange for military support. Trump is literally violating it with his “peace suggestions”. How should any country respect the US after this if they wont keep their word in diplomatic agreements?
I am very sorry for the terrible decisions your current government is making and it makes me really sad how people like you are being misled. You cant believe everything your news echochamber tells you just because it seems to make sense that negative numbers are bad.
I wouldnt really care all that much if the US would simply self-destruct because of all their bullshit, but the peoblem is as soon as it will get really bad they will start waging wars all around the world to make up for it by trading resources for “peace”, because thats the only thing theyre actually good at. The whole world will suffer because of a huge baby with an even huger inferiority complex.
I never said they were, genius. The point of highlighting the deficit is twofold: first, to expose how lopsided our trade agreements are, with our so-called “allies” benefiting far more than we do; and second, to showcase how badly domestic production is failing to meet demand. The best way to correct that? Tariffs. They reduce the imbalance and incentivise bringing production back home. But sure, keep pretending it’s not an issue while we hemorrhage jobs and industry to foreign nations.
Have you actually read the Memorandum? No, you haven’t. And it shows. It also included Russia, and it never guaranteed military support - it guaranteed that Ukraine’s borders and sovereignty would be respected and that we wouldn’t infringe upon them, except in self-defense. And funnily enough, that’s exactly what Russia did in 2014 after Ukraine spent years antagonising them with NATO ambitions (e.g. the 2008 Bucharest Summit) despite NATO giving assurances it wouldn’t expand eastward past Germany during its reunification talks. But go off with your revisionist history.
Likewise, kiddo. Maybe try doing some real research before regurgitating whatever narrative makes you feel smart. It takes actual knowledge to understand why these policies exist, and right now, you’re just embarrassing yourself by parroting surface-level takes with zero depth.
Where did you get the idea that they benefit more from trade than the US does? Thats complete bullshit propaganda. Why would that be the case? Name a single economic indication please, and stop with the “its a deficit, thats a negative word, so its bad for us” logic, read up on the words youre using before spouting nonsense. The US has been running trade deficits for decades, thats your business model! Its like if Amazon started saying “oh damn our warehouse inventory is getting smaller, lets fix it by selling less stuff!”
Ive read the memorandum. It ays what you wrote and I didnt pretend otherwise. The US is currently not respecting Ukraines borders by offering part of the country to Russia. I dont see how thats so difficult to understand.
My god you’re dense. I’ve already explained everything clearly and twice so far. I’ll put it in very simple to understand words for you:
Trade Deficit = Deindustrialisation and Job Loss
Trade Surplus = Industrialisation and Job Growth
For someone who claims to have an understanding of macroeconomics, you clearly very much don’t. 🤦🏼
And I’ll reiterate: the Memorandum did not guarantee military support, and yet, we’ve been providing it for the last three years for free despite them breaking their own agreement and infringing on Russia’s border security. They poked the bear, FAFO’d. The only way Ukraine keeps their sovereignty is through diplomacy and, most likely, complete detachment from NATO.
Yes those are negative side effects of a trade deficit, just like it has positive effects, which the US has benefitted from for decades. Why is the USD currently so strong? Mainly because of your trade deficit. Dont try to frame it like there are only downsides.
Sure, a transition to trade surplus is a valid possibility, but tarriffs wont accomplish that. They will create a few jobs, sure, but they definitely wont increase exports.
I didnt say the Memorandum guaranteed military support. I said Trump suggesting that Ukraine give up the occupied territories is violating the sovereignity and borders part. Russia violated the agreement long before by attacking Ukraine, which would obviously draw sympathy to Ukraine as the attacked. I also didnt deny the US providing support. They provided about as much as the average country supporting Ukraine, which they are very thankful for, but its not that special. Ill dismiss the propaganda part, I think you know very well that its bullshit.