EconAir

    SUMMARY AND UPDATE (12/2025) America's trade deficit was $918 billion in 2024. It is expected to be higher in 2025. China's goods trade surplus in 2024 was just under $1 trillion; based on the first eleven months of 2025, it will be over $1 trillion in 2025. The sharp decrease in exports to the United States has been less than China's increase in exports to the rest of the world. Exports to countries in Asia and Africa were substantially higher . President Trump has partially rescinded the U.S. ban on exporting high-end Nvidia chips to China. The price is that Nvidia has to give part of the sales revenue on these chips to the U.S. government. Trump is negotiating similar deals with the other American chip designers and producers.   TRUMP'S TARIFF STRATEGY The Trump tariff offensive is couched in domestic economic terms and objectives – to reduce the trade deficit, to reduce the fiscal deficit, and to increase domestic manufacturing, especially in technologies with ...

BACKGROUND Trump, of all people, does not seem to understand that companies, not countries, import and exports goods and services. Trump does not seem to understand that many American companies and industries have outsourced the production of their inputs, products and services to China, Mexico and Canada to lower costs and increase profits. They have already decided what to produce here and what to produce in other countries. Total American imports are around $3.5 trillion. Total exports are around $2.5 trillion. Both numbers include trade in services in addition to trade in goods. so the total trade deficit is around $1 trillion. Any higher tariffs the U.S. puts in imports will probably be matched by tariffs on U.S. exports. So while tariffs in imports will hurt foreign exporters, reciprocal tariffs will hurt American exporters and their employees. And imports of commodities like oil and copper, steel and aluminum, plus inputs and sub-assemblies that go into domestic American prod...