President Donald Trump says America’s trading partners are ripping it off. Trump claims ‘chronic trade deficits’ with other countries are robbing the U.S. of its hard-earned wealth. But does that argument add up?
00:00April 2nd, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day that we began to make America wealthy again.
00:14Make America wealthy again? You have to wonder, isn't it wealthy already?
00:20President Trump says no, and he's pointing the finger at other countries.
00:25Chronic trade deficits are no longer merely an economic problem. They're a national emergency that threatens our security and our very way of life. It's a very great threat to our country.
00:37Trump doesn't like the fact that America has a large trade deficit with most other countries.
00:42In other words, it buys a lot from these nations, but sells relatively little.
00:48Now, the president wants to cut these deficits, partly because they increase America's debt.
00:54And make no mistake, that debt is substantial. At the moment, roughly $36 trillion. That's 36 and 12 zeros.
01:04But all this begs the question, why is there a deficit in the first place?
01:10Well, let's look at America's trade with China, for example.
01:14Last year, the U.S. sold goods worth $143 billion to China.
01:19But it bought Chinese goods worth $438 billion.
01:24So, the U.S. has a deficit of roughly $295 billion.
01:29Now, that seems a little strange, right?
01:32After all, China's population is four times bigger than America's.
01:36And yet, the U.S. is buying so much more.
01:40But it's not quite that simple.
01:42You see, the U.S. dollar is stronger than the yuan.
01:45That's China's currency.
01:47Right now, $1 is worth just over 7 yuan.
01:51This exchange rate makes Chinese products pretty cheap for American consumers.
01:56And generally speaking, consumers like cheap products.
02:00But China has still taken some flack.
02:02They have the most out-of-whack economy that's so export-based.
02:07They don't, you know, import nearly enough.
02:09And the stage needs to be reset.
02:12There's no doubt that a weaker currency helps China sell more goods to America.
02:17But it's not the only reason for the deficit.
02:20You see, these two countries are different.
02:23And they have different consumers.
02:26Back in 2023, the World Bank looked at something called GDP per capita.
02:31What is that?
02:33Well, basically, you take the size of a country's economy and divide it by the population.
02:38So, GDP per capita in China was about $22,000.
02:43In the U.S., it was more than $74,000.
02:47So, really, the Chinese consumer is a world apart from the American consumer.
02:53And that's reflected in the trade between the two countries.
02:57But Trump doesn't see it that way.
02:59For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by nations near and far.
03:05The president says America is no longer wealthy because other countries are ripping it off.
03:11But the numbers tell a different story.
03:14The numbers suggest that America should be trading in goods, not insults.
03:19The numbers seem on as if entities go into a country.
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