How are you going to do that?
Countries don't trade with each other. People trade with other people. At some point, are you going to announce to the American people, that, after today, they may not buy anything from China?
Also, a so-called trade deficit does not "indebt" anyone to anyone. The trade deficit does not create debt. Period.
If you buy a Chinese TV, you pay for it. You have not created a debt with the Chinese. Now, it may well be that you put that TV purchase on a credit card, but in that case your debt is with an American bank.
That imbalances in trade create debt is one of the biggest economic fallacies in existence.
That imbalances in trade create debt is one of the biggest economic fallacies in existence.
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Of course it is. But it is near gospel here at FR.
Teaching Freepers economics is very much like beating your head against the wall. Like Trump, they “Know So Much” but often have no clue as to what they don’t know. Trade policy falls in the latter group. It’s all seat of the pants. It’s all Follow the Pied Piper.
“How are you going to do that? “
I don’t know. That’s the major problem with my idea.
Regarding the trade deficit, suppose we bought from China and China never bought from us. The only thing China would be getting from us would be money. It doesn’t matter whether the money was borrowed by the Americans to do the buying. The Chinese end up with a pile of money. That money gives them power. They could spend the money buying our products and services, or they could spend it in other countries, or they could use it to buy properties in America. Overall, not good.