Post by Anthony

In all the talk of US trade deficits forcing Trump et al. to erect tariff barriers to "rebalance trade", we've lost or ignored the fact that the US has an enormous digital trade surplus. See, for instance, this paper Estimating digital product trade through corporate revenue data. The US's main conventional export is currently petroleum, but it exports over twice as much in digital advertising. The US's overall "digital exports" are larger than the total exports of France, which is the world's 7th leading exporter. However, these numbers are not typically included in reports about trade deficits or surpluses.

#Trump #tariffs #USPol #USEconomy #GlobalTrade #trade

Edited 9d ago

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It's also worth remembering that largely because of dysfunction and monopolization in the agriculture sector, the US became a persistent net importer of agricultural products in 2023, worsening the overall trade deficit. This even as the US literally has the most arable land in the world, more than enough to grow food for everyone here and export a bunch after. Which is what we used to do (see this post for instance). This report on agriculture industry monopolization titled “Kings Over the Necessaries of Life”: Monopolization and the Elimination of Competition in America’s Agriculture System is damning.

I don't believe the administration is being sincere when it decries international trade imbalances. There are some simple, obvious actions it could be taking right at home that would be wildly popular yet do not seem to merit mention.

#Trump #tariffs #USPol #USEconomy #GlobalTrade #trade

Edited 9d ago

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