For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. If you think Pedro Martinez' numbers against the New York Yankees look bad (and they do), they're nothing compared with the government's latest monthly trade figures. Dismal as the Boston Red Sox ace's performance against the Bronx Bombers has been, he looks like a champion next to the trade numbers, which are one important measure of the U.S. economy's performance against the rest of the world. Not that the trade surplus and deficit figures tell us everything we need to know about America's competitiveness. In particular, they compare apples and oranges...