When you’re already $500 Billion DOWN, you can’t lose!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2018
Salvatore Babones, National Interest: Trump Is Right: The U.S. Can’t Lose a Trade War
If President Trump is right about one thing, it's that when you have a trade deficit of half a trillion dollars, you can't lose a trade war.
The conventional wisdom of the international expert class is that “you can't win a trade war.” What they really mean is that you can't win a trade war in a fair game . If all sides start in balance, the rules are the same for everyone, and no player has coercive power over any other, the winning strategy is for everyone to cooperate. Economics 101.
But if one country starts with a massive trade deficit, the existing rules are written to favor its opponents. And when the country with the trade deficit just happens to be the most powerful country in the world, it's safe to say that there are multiple paths to victory.
Despite being widely ridiculed in the press, the homespun wisdom encapsulated in President Donald Trump's April 4 tweet that “When you’re already $500 Billion DOWN, you can’t lose!” is essentially correct. The only thing incorrect was the figure. The U.S. trade deficit was $568 billion in 2017, and that figure incorporates America's trade surplus in services. America's trade deficit in goods alone was a whopping $811 billion.
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WNU Editor: I have been saying the same thing for a long time.You lose if you continue to do the same thing in running trade deficits year after year after year.
