America’s Trade Deficit Is Not Afraid of Donald Trump
If the US president-elect’s efforts to eliminate America’s trade deficit succeed, real-estate prices in Miami and Manhattan will crash, the cost of servicing government debt will skyrocket and the Dow Jones will plummet. Perhaps he should be reminded that the most vengeful of deities is one that grants him his sincerest wish.
ATHENS – Donald Trump is as sincere as he is capable of being in his determination to eliminate the US trade deficit. But the US trade deficit is even more determined to remain enormous and will likely swat aside whatever the 47th president of the United States throws at it. Because it is hard-wired into the structure of post-Bretton Woods America, the deficit lies beyond the means – and the ends – of the incoming administration.