I'll let the accountants and economists weigh in on that. But I'd rather rely on data than the argument "they all play accounting tricks therefore it must all c

I'll let the accountants and economists weigh in on that. But I'd rather rely on data than the argument "they all play accounting tricks therefore it must all cancel out". In other words, I'd like to see a similar analysis of the US's trade numbers and see if the resultant 'trickery' adjustment results in a significant shift in the trade numbers.