On Wednesday, the Commerce Department reported that last year's balance of trade showed a trade deficit of a staggering record of $891 billion. Some of the deficit was as a result of a global economic slowdown, but it was exacerbated by Moscow asset and incompetent con man Donald "Rump" Trump's policies:
"It is a case of textbook economics catching up with some of Mr. Trump’s unorthodox economic policies. Economists have long warned that Mr. Trump’s tax cuts would ultimately exacerbate a trade deficit he has vowed to reduce, as Americans, flush with extra cash, bought more imported goods.The biggest beneficiary of the trade imbalance is the country that Rump usually points to:
His trade war with Beijing also widened the gap: Stiff tariffs on Chinese goods helped slow China’s economy, crimping American exports, which declined nearly 50 percent in December from the same month a year before."
"The strength of the dollar in global currency markets has made it cheaper for American consumers to buy foreign-made goods, and more difficult for foreign customers to buy American-made ones. That helped fuel a record number of Chinese goods imported into the United States. The trade gap in goods between the United States and China hit $419 billion in 2018, deepening a bilateral deficit that has been a particular source of anger for Mr. Trump." (our emphasis)So as a result of Rump's mismanagement, the Chinese are buying less from us, while we're buying more from them. Well done, Very Stable Genius.
To top it off, the monthly jobs report for February indicated a very weak 20,000 jobs were added, a significant drop from analysts' predictions of 175,000 new jobs. The government sector shedded 5,000 jobs, as the ripple effects of Rump's weeks-long
