During 2017, under the first year of President Trump, the U.S. trade deficit increased by 9.7 percent to $571.6 billion -- and that’s not a bad thing.
If trade deficits are bad, our economy should be on the ropes. But as the trade deficit increased by $50 billion, U.S. manufacturing value added increased by even more, $61 billion. Total U.S. GDP increased by $766 billion as the economy added more than 2 million new private-sector jobs.
According to Bryan Riley, Director of NTU’s Free Trade Initiative, “This new data provides more evidence that trade deficits are not necessarily something to worry about. One of the best trade policies President Trump could take is to direct government agencies to quit using the misleading term ‘trade deficit,’ which implies Americans are losing due to trade. The Trump administration should focus on increasing economic growth, not policies designed to reduce the trade deficit that would destroy jobs and make Americans poorer.”