[Cringing Negativism Network]

Countries have trade deficits.

Your examples are entities within the country’s borders. I have no problem whatsoever with Texas, competing with California. None at all. Texas will win by the way.

What we are facing internationally is much more destructive, and I don’t support what we are doing at all.

America needs to support, and to build up America.

[Alberta's Child]

The point is that ultimately the dollars sent overseas in any trading partnership have to come back to the U.S. in some way. A trade deficit in and of itself is not the problem in that respect.

I've long said that this is a very complicated issue, and one of the things I've found is that it lends to oversimplification in so many ways.

Personally, I believe the U.S. government is under tremendous pressure to maintain and expand these trade agreements because we see it as an absolute necessity in maintaining the status of the U.S. dollar as a global reserve currency. I keep informed about major trends in commerce and trade as part of my work, and in the last few years I've seen something that I had never seen before -- and which probably raises all kind of alarms in Washington: articles, conferences, and research publications about global trade that have no mention of the U.S. as a major player on the world stage.

[SeeSharp]

Countries have trade deficits.

Making up your own definitions?