3 ms·

> But we have lowered our overall trade deficit, and that is probably good news. That's neither good nor bad news. A trade deficit is not a real deficit and is

• jfengel 10mo ago
  You presumably don't run an overall trade deficit. You have a positive balance of trade with your employer, who pays you money for your services. That is probably slightly higher than the total trade deficit you have with your purchases. You may even have saved up enough that you could retire, and run a trade deficit for the rest of your life. Which would be fine, except that countries don't retire. They need to more or less balance their net trades, over a period of decades if not every year.
  • JohnFen 10mo ago
    > You presumably don't run an overall trade deficit. True. But by that logic, neither does the US.