Flawed trade math
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President Trump is wielding tariffs to try to close the massive U.S. trade deficit in goods, which he sees as a sign of economic weakness.
It is only part of the trade story.
While the U.S. buys more goods from abroad than it sells, the opposite is true for services, which include everything from streaming subscriptions to financial advice. Trump left these service exports out of his tariff math, but they are being pulled into his trade wars.
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Well let’s see.
The average wage in Lesotho is some $5/day. They export $ millions worth of diamonds but no one can afford American stuff. This results in a huge trade imbalance.
Tariffs make no sense at all unless your goal is to increase revenue to pay for tax cuts.
