MarathonMike
Diamond Member
With all the conflict and discussion about trade imbalances, what seems to be missing is specifics on exactly what the imbalance is country by country. It is more than just the trade deficit of imports vs exports. There are VAT taxes, tariffs on each commodity or product, currency manipulation, IP theft, etc. I agree with President Trump in using Tariffs as a tool to force foreign countries to be "more fair". Discussion has yielded nothing in over 30 years and will continue to yield nothing
I believe the negotiations would be much more effective if we knew that China, for example, has a net 20% trade advantage (a guess) over the US.
Secondly if we know what the numbers are then President Trump has strong footing from which to negotiate. Without the numbers, it helps China, the EU, Mexico etc. pretend like they are the victim. Expose the trade advantages country by country and then set the goals for reducing the advantages.
I believe the negotiations would be much more effective if we knew that China, for example, has a net 20% trade advantage (a guess) over the US.
Secondly if we know what the numbers are then President Trump has strong footing from which to negotiate. Without the numbers, it helps China, the EU, Mexico etc. pretend like they are the victim. Expose the trade advantages country by country and then set the goals for reducing the advantages.