US trade delegate Jamieson Greer has called on American companies to report unfair trade practices by partner countries, according Budliger Artieda. This applies in particular to G20 countries and states with a strongly positive trade balance with the US.
You would not expect an efficient world market to have a zero bilateral trade balance between each pair of countries in it.
Say we have a world with three countries.
Country A is good at producing apples and consumes a lot of beans.
Country B is good at producing beans and consumes a lot of cherries.
Country C is good at producing cherries and consumes a lot of apples.
No country on there should have a zero bilateral trade balance with any other country. Country A should run a deficit with B and surplus with C. B should run a deficit with C and surplus with A. C should run a deficit with A and surplus with B.
You could, with sufficient regulation, prevent that from happening, but you’d be giving up the gains you get from comparative advantage.
It is actually even more stupid. If Country A invests into Country B, then Country A has a trade surplus with Country B. However it also owns the investments, which means profits from the investment in Country B should be send back to Country A.
That is exactly what happened with the US. They invest a lot abroad after WW2 and are now living of the capital they own abroad.
You would not expect an efficient world market to have a zero bilateral trade balance between each pair of countries in it.
Say we have a world with three countries.
Country A is good at producing apples and consumes a lot of beans.
Country B is good at producing beans and consumes a lot of cherries.
Country C is good at producing cherries and consumes a lot of apples.
No country on there should have a zero bilateral trade balance with any other country. Country A should run a deficit with B and surplus with C. B should run a deficit with C and surplus with A. C should run a deficit with A and surplus with B.
You could, with sufficient regulation, prevent that from happening, but you’d be giving up the gains you get from comparative advantage.
It is actually even more stupid. If Country A invests into Country B, then Country A has a trade surplus with Country B. However it also owns the investments, which means profits from the investment in Country B should be send back to Country A.
That is exactly what happened with the US. They invest a lot abroad after WW2 and are now living of the capital they own abroad.
And even if someone makes a fortune abroad, they’ll still generally invest their profits in Wall Street.
And even if they don’t, their country will buy US dollars to keep in their reserves and buy oil.