Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 02/20/2026 6:21:24 AM PST by SoConPubbie
The Wall Street Journal’s headline on Thursday’s trade data declared that “America Imported a Record Amount Last Year Despite Seismic Trade Policy Changes,” emphasizing that the annual deficit “was little changed” and concluding that the tariffs “did little to dissuade Americans from importing.” Bloomberg declared: “US Notches One of Its Biggest Annual Trade Gaps Since 1960.”
Sounds scary enough to make some doubt that President Trump’s tariffs were having any effect at all. Maybe all those anti-tariff pundits were right and tariffs could not rebalance trade. That, of course, is precisely the reaction the stories were intended to provoke. All that sturm-und-drang over a slight decline in the trade deficit.
Fortunately, this framing obscures what may be the most dramatic trade rebalancing in modern American history. Donald Trump dances during a rally in Doral, Florida, on July 9, 2024. (GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)
While the annual 2025 deficit was essentially flat at $901.5 billion (down just $2.1 billion from 2024), this masks a seismic shift in the second half of the year—and particularly in the fourth quarter.
November 2025 posted the largest rolling three-month trade deficit decline in recorded history, with the three-month average falling $35.3 billion year-over-year, a 45 percent drop. This surpasses even the peak months of the 2009 Great Recession.
Three consecutive months in late 2025—October, November, and December—each posted year-over-year rolling-three month declines that rank among the top eight largest in recorded history in monthly data beginning in 1992. The only comparable period is 2009—but there’s a critical difference. The 2009 improvements came from economic collapse and demand destruction wrought by the financial crisis and recession. The 2025 improvements are happening during unusually high GDP growth.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
Paging Kleon
How does this reconcile against the LSM propaganda
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4367471/posts
As I said, LSM only cherry picks to create a narrative, they always lie for the narrative.
I would argue that this article is the one cherry picking data. It also uses vague language to mask the fact that the trade deficit widened in December.
Then you are auguring it only matters when it agrees with your personal bias’s.
Your preferred article looks at one month and makes a global assessment about an entire plan, the article posted here looks at a larger data set, including the month you want to isolate to and finds the opposite to be true.
Cleary the larger data set, especially when it includes the smaller set in question is a better method of assessment.
Indeed Trump Tariffs Achieve What Economists Said Was Impossible.
It’s makes the left exposed to what they couldn’t do after all their bogus promises and they can’t stand it.
I don’t have a preferred article. I just prefer using factual data, and this article says things that are not true.
We shouldn’t have to win another World War to make America great again. Trump says that it’s 100x more costly to wage war than it is to maintain peace, which has a nice ring to it as long as it’s a lasting peace with honor and integrity.
You do not get to make such assertions without supporting them specifically.
Please do state specifically what is untrue and how you can prove such.
Also, I note you shifted the goal post, where first you used a smaller data set and I called that out, how the larger set with your data contradicts your point of view, now you go on to claim lies.
Just can’t support your position apparently without using sophistry
Trump says that it’s 100x more costly to wage war than it is to maintain peace, which has a nice ring to it as long as it’s a lasting peace with honor and integrity.
“Blood is a big expense.”
The article says that "Three consecutive months in late 2025—October, November, and December—each posted year-over-year rolling-three month declines..."
This is not true--each month did not post declines. It widened in December.
The Article goes on to say
“The three-month average goods deficit in the fourth quarter of 2025 was $80.5 billion, down 27 percent from $109.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024—a decline of $29.1 billion. The combined goods and services deficit fell even more dramatically, dropping 40 percent from $83.6 billion to $50.7 billion.”
You are choosing to intentionally misinterpret what metric they are using to define what the decline is. It is not a lie.
“As I said, LSM only cherry picks to create a narrative, they always lie for the narrative.”
Or as the old saying goes “half a truth is as bad as a lie”, actually worse.
Though, to be honest, both sides do it when it’s convenient.
Blood and treasure.
Great post, SoConPubbie.
I read the WSJ front page Trade article yesterday at the grocery store and was deeply depressed.
The WSJ is relentlessly anti-Trump.
Their Editorial Page has been preaching USA Open Borders for foreign labor since the 1970s.
Your post is a jolt of unexpected good news.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.