UPDATE: Trump promised to shrink the trade deficit. Instead it exploded.

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post



The Commerce Department said Wednesday that -- despite more than two years of President Trump’s “America First” policies -- the United States last year posted a $891.2 billion merchandise trade deficit, the largest in the nation’s 243-year history.

The trade gap with China also hit a record $419 billion, underscoring the stakes for the president’s bid to reach a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping as soon as this month.

The department’s final 2018 trade report, which was delayed by the government shutdown, showed that the U.S. bought far more in foreign goods than it sold to customers in Europe, Asia, North America and Africa. The goods shortfall topped the 2006 record of $838.3 billion, set as the housing bubble was peaking, and marked the third consecutive year of rising deficits.

A broader measure of the nation’s trade performance, which includes the services sector, showed a narrower, but still large $621 billion deficit. That reflected a deterioration of more than $100 billion from the figure that Trump inherited from President Barack Obama.

It has been evident for months that the president was failing to shrink a trade gap that he calls “unsustainable” and that he says represents a massive transfer of wealth from Americans to foreigners. Over the past year, even as he imposed tariffs on foreign-made solar panels, washing machines, steel, aluminum and assorted goods from China, imports roared ahead of exports.


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-promised-to-shrink-the-trade-deficit-instead-it-exploded/2019/03/05/35d3b1e0-3f8f-11e9-a0d3-1210e58a94cf_story.html

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Original article -

By David J. Lynch
March 6 at 8:32 AM

BREAKING NEWS: U.S. posted record-breaking $891.2 billion merchandise trade deficit in 2018, despite Trump’s ‘America First’ policies

President Trump’s tariffs and tough policies have failed to shrink a trade gap that he argues represents a massive transfer of wealth from Americans to foreigners. He begins his reelection drive with a core campaign promise unfulfilled — and with a recent flurry of economic research showing that his embrace of tariffs is damaging the U.S. economy.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-promised-to-shrink-the-trade-deficit-instead-it-exploded/2019/03/05/35d3b1e0-3f8f-11e9-a0d3-1210e58a94cf_story.html?utm_term=.52ef91ac184d

[UpInArms]

1. Trade deficit soars to 10-year high in 2018, foiling Trump White House effort to rein it in

The nation’s trade deficit shot to a 10-year high in 2018 despite frenzied efforts by the Trump White House to reduce the gap, reflecting both the strength of the U.S. economy and the thorny nature of a problem that’s bedeviled presidents for decades.

The deficit jumped nearly 19% in December to a seasonally adjusted $59.8 billion, according to a government report that was delayed by the government shutdown earlier in the year. That’s the single biggest monthly gap since October 2008.

The increase pushed the total for the full year to $621 billion, the highest mark since the U.S. posted a $709 billion deficit in 2008 during the middle of the last recession.

What’s more, the trade gap in goods sailed to an all-time high of $891.3 billion, reflecting record deficits with China, Mexico and Europe.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trade-deficit-soars-to-10-year-high-in-2018-foiling-trump-white-house-effort-to-rein-it-in-2019-03-06

Are you tired of winning?

[ginnyinWI]

2. Conservative ideas do not work.

They only sound good on paper.

When will people get it?

[Blue_Tires]

3. Who the hell actually believed that shit?

[warmfeet]

4. The morons that voted for

agent orange believed that shit and most of them still do. Facts do not dissuade their beliefs.

[BeyondGeography]

5. Awesome

[thegoose]

6. This asshole is the disaster we always knew he would be

Yet the MAGATs think he's doing something wonderful. He hasn't done anything except clean out the treasury for the ultra-rich. Oh, and that little thing about killing the environment.

[riversedge]

7. US posted a $891.2 billion merchandise trade deficit, the largest in the nation's 243-year history.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

16. We don't hear much about that "made in America" drive we did years ago.

I'm old enough to remember Sam Walton strutting around the country bragging about his support for Made in America, which was nothing but a ruse even back then.

Our big retail outlets like Walmart and Amazon are nothing but huge import stores......

Trump and his goofball administration are learning they can have little or no sway on those globalists they railed about in 2016.

[jcgoldie]

8. Uhm is this part of the "economic miracle"?

...that Trump told us about in the SOTU?

[IronLionZion]

9. At what point will Republicans turn against this bumbling buffoon?

he screws up everything he touches. He's bad for the economy, which they claim to care about. Bad for the stock market. Bad for trade.

They already got their tax cuts so have nothing to lose by turning against him.

[DirtEdonE]

10. So are we great again yet?

What a fucking pity what the stupid have done to this nation. And it looks like they're nowhere near finished.

[Mc Mike]

11. Everything he touches turns to tRump. rec, Nt

[SWBTATTReg]

12. We're winning, we're winning!! Not so subtle sarcasm here...nt

[packman]

13. Yes, but it is the biggest, most tremendous trade deficit ever

which only he could do - There's a lot of love in those numbers. He's truly making America Great Again in all sorts of ways. Now we have the greatest trade deficit ever.

[progressoid]

14. #MAGA

[populistdriven]

15. So much WIN my head exploded

[Pobeka]

17. This is the theft of our social security and medicare

happening right in front of our eyes... Handing the payments to the billionares first. In 10 years they'll say we have to make massive cuts to social security and medicare because the debt is just too large.

Idiot GOP'ers who have paid into those government programs out of their paychecks support this. I wouldn't mind a bit if it was only the GOPers getting robbed blind.

Idiots.

[SunSeeker]

18. K & R for exposure.

[ffr]

19. But Hillary's emails needed to be researched for the 999th time.

And tRump certainly shook things up in Washington.



We've already lost so much. And our reputation around the world will never be the same.

[TomCADem]

20. Didn't Trump Steal Bernie's Trade Policies?

Blow up TPP, renegotiate NAFTA, impose tariffs on steel? Indeed, wouldn’t Bernie take and even more protectionist stance than Trump when it comes to trade, since Bernie has never voted in favor a trade agreement?

[murielm99]

21. While this thread, in all fairness, is not

about Bernie, I guess it is okay to mention this. After all, Bernie steals everyone else's ideas, so let trump steal Bernie's ideas on trade.

What's a little theft among politicians?

[TomCADem]

22. In 2017, Bernie Was Cheering Trump on TPP and...

...egging him on tariffs and NAFTA. Of course, when Trump actually took the steps Bernie long advocated, Bernie disavowed them. The best example of Bernie’s flip flop on a trade policy that Trump stole from him is steel tariffs.

It is sort of like Mitt Romney and Obamacare.

[John Fante]

26. It's populism for dummies.

[happybird]

23. Another article, from BBC

It's the top story.

Trump dealt blow as US trade deficit jumps - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47472282

[red dog 1]

24. Kick for exposure

[riversedge]

25. NYT ; In a Blow to Trump, America's Trade Deficit Hit a Record $891 Billion

In a Blow to Trump, America’s Trade Deficit Hit a Record $891 Billion


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/06/us/politics/us-trade-deficit.html?action=click&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=Article&region=Footer&contentCollection=

The United States trade deficit in goods reached $891.3 billion in 2018 — the highest it’s ever been.CreditMark Ralston/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images


By Jim Tankersley and Ana Swanson

March 6, 2019

WASHINGTON — America’s trade deficit with the rest of the world rose to its highest level in history last year as the United States imported more goods than ever, including a record amount from China, ballooning the deficit to $891.3 billion and delivering a setback to President Trump’s goal of narrowing that gap.

The increase was driven by some factors outside Mr. Trump’s control, like a global economic slowdown and the relative strength of the United States dollar, both of which weakened overseas demand for American goods. But the widening gap was also exacerbated by Mr. Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax cut, which has been largely financed by government borrowing, and the trade war he escalated last year.

The trade deficit is the difference between how much a country sells to its trading partners and how much it buys. Mr. Trump has long boasted that his trade policies would reduce that gap, which he views as a measure of whether partners like China and the European Union are taking advantage of the United States, a diagnosis that few economists share.

Instead, in a year when Mr. Trump imposed tariffs on steel, aluminum, washing machines, solar panels and a variety of Chinese goods, the trade deficit grew by 12.5 percent from 2017, or nearly $70 billion, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.....................

[pampango]

27. His tariffs were supposed to have the 'magical' effect of lowering the trade deficit.

That's the same crap that 1920's republicans sold to its true believers. It didn't work then. FDR reversed the tariff increases. It is not working now. Trump is no great reader of history, to say the least. That is too bad. Populist rhetoric and pomposity do not make a good substitute for understanding history.