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2016 U.S. Merchandise Trade Deficit: $734,316,300,000
CNS NEWS ^ | February 7, 2017 | Terence P. Jeffrey

Posted on 02/07/2017 8:14:36 AM PST by xzins

The United States ran a merchandise trade deficit of $734,316,300,000 in 2016, according to data released today by the Census Bureau.

During 2016, the U.S. imported $2,188,940,500,000 in goods but exported only $1,454,624,200,000.

The People’s Republic of China was the greatest contributor to the U.S. merchandise trade deficit for the year. The U.S bilateral merchandise trade deficit with China was $347,037,900,000. This deficit resulted from the U.S. importing $462,813,000,000 in goods from China while exporting only $115,775,100,00 in goods to China.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: deficit; economy; trade; trump
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To: Lord Castlereagh

Sounds like someone invented the perpetual motion machine.


21 posted on 02/07/2017 9:33:14 AM PST by xzins (Retired US Army chaplain. Those who truly support our troops pray for their victory.)
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To: xzins

Not really.


22 posted on 02/07/2017 9:34:35 AM PST by Lord Castlereagh
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To: spintreebob

Whatever the answers to those are, we do know that the overall trade deficits are in the hundreds of billions with China and 60 billion with Mexico.


23 posted on 02/07/2017 9:34:41 AM PST by xzins (Retired US Army chaplain. Those who truly support our troops pray for their victory.)
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To: Lord Castlereagh

I don’t see the advantage of a fruit stand buying 4 times the merchandise than it sells.


24 posted on 02/07/2017 9:36:38 AM PST by xzins (Retired US Army chaplain. Those who truly support our troops pray for their victory.)
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To: xzins

The first time you said “goods” Now you are specifying, I believe, specifically the goods that it sells. Those are 2 diff scenarios. Friedman was referring to the first.


25 posted on 02/07/2017 9:43:36 AM PST by Lord Castlereagh
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To: xzins
So, if you run a fruit stand, you’re ahead if you buy more goods than you sell? That doesn’t makes sense to me.

How about you, specifically? Do you buy more goods then you sell?

26 posted on 02/07/2017 9:59:36 AM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: txrefugee

I have a monstrous trade deficit with Wal-Mart, DirecTV, and Amazon. They never buy anything from me, yet eat up most of my budget. Someone ought to do something!


27 posted on 02/07/2017 10:00:06 AM PST by sparklite2 (I'm less interested in the rights I have than the liberties I can take.)
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To: xzins

"Trump's fault!"


28 posted on 02/07/2017 10:02:33 AM PST by COBOL2Java (1 Tim 2:1-3)
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To: raybbr

That’s the only place you can spend dollars (except for a few places that it’s also legal tender).

Eventually they have to come back here unless you just collect them.


29 posted on 02/07/2017 10:22:36 AM PST by aquila48
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To: Roger Kaputnik

And who builds those homes and where does the material comes from?


30 posted on 02/07/2017 10:24:32 AM PST by aquila48
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To: xzins

I don’t think they pay their workers with dollars.


31 posted on 02/07/2017 10:25:38 AM PST by aquila48
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To: raybbr

They spend most of the dollars buying US treasuries - IOW, they fund our budget deficits.

They also buy houses here as well as other assets, which help our economy.


32 posted on 02/07/2017 10:32:53 AM PST by aquila48
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To: aquila48

Drywall from China, anyone? LOL.


33 posted on 02/07/2017 10:37:53 AM PST by baltimorepoet
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To: aquila48
That’s the only place you can spend dollars (except for a few places that it’s also legal tender).

Really? No other country will take U.S. dollars? Ever heard of a currency market?

34 posted on 02/07/2017 10:38:31 AM PST by raybbr (That progressive bumper sticker on your car might just as well say, "Yes, I'm THAT stupid!")
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To: raybbr

PLEASE keep following that train of thought! I PROMISE you will learn something very important.


35 posted on 02/07/2017 10:43:53 AM PST by Lord Castlereagh
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To: baltimorepoet

And who do you blame for that? Who is the sap in that transaction? Buyer beware.


36 posted on 02/07/2017 10:56:25 AM PST by aquila48
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To: xzins
"So, if you run a fruit stand, you’re ahead if you buy more goods than you sell? That doesn’t makes sense to me."

If you can buy more goods than you need from what you sell, then you're ahead.

37 posted on 02/07/2017 11:08:07 AM PST by mlo
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To: aquila48

Materials come from a mixture of places: US, Mexico, Canada and of course China.

New home builders are a mixture of US-based companies and Chinese.

But the Chinese are not just purchasing new homes. They are purchasing everything they can get their hands on, and they are paying with CASH. They don’t want to invest their money in China so they come to the west coast and buy real estate.


38 posted on 02/07/2017 11:16:33 AM PST by Roger Kaputnik (Just because I'm paranoid doesn't prove that they aren't out to get me.)
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To: xzins

OK, all this says to me is that President Trump has a lot of bargaining power when it comes to foreign affairs and trade. Clearly, these countries need us way more than we need them.


39 posted on 02/07/2017 11:17:26 AM PST by NohSpinZone (First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers)
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To: mlo; aquila48
What Milton did not take into account was that our society, largely due to a loss of Christian work ethic and the addition of the Welfare State, leaves our nation at a true financial disadvantage. Add to that our policy is to over tax and over regulate businesses and individuals, while not getting anything back from which to recover those practices via an excise tax, and we wind up with sheer madness and a cycle into a hole in the ground.

Taxes are a penalty. Taxing imports is reasonable, as it appears taxing reportable work is also “reasonable.” But, which is healthier for a country, to penalize cheap imports that didn't employ a US citizen or pay taxes, or to penalize someone who does reportable work (and not tax welfare, etc.)?

Please tell us, oh wise one. Oh, and no country has "free trade" with any other country, today.

40 posted on 02/07/2017 11:20:10 AM PST by ConservativeMind ("Humane" = "Don't pen up pets or eat meat, but allow infanticides, abortion, and euthanasia.")
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