Why is the issue of trade deficits so critical? Think of what would happen to our economy if every household had to give up $4,000 a year to other countries ($500 billion total). It would be worse than even giving it to our government because at least our government spends the money, so it goes back into our economy. The $4,000 I’m talking about would leave our economy all together and benefit another country’s economy. How long could we sustain giving up our money? It isn’t sustainable. President Trump gets in trouble sometimes for likening it to a national security threat but he’s correct; anything that can topple our economy is a national security threat.
Justin Trudeau who is Canada’s Prime Minister is mad about what Trump’s doing and said he too will increase import taxes on American goods. What he’s not admitting is that Trump is just trying to get a comparable trade deal to the one that Canada has already been enjoying. These other countries leave out the fact that they’ve been taking advantage of the U.S. none more so than China. Trump isn’t going to take it anymore. It was part of his platform and he won the election, so a majority of Americans are behind him.
The bottom line is President Trump is addressing a horrific situation. Most citizens don’t understand how a trade deficit impacts their families. Where was Obama in addressing these issues? Nowhere. He even made our trade deals worse by being afraid to play hardball with anyone. To be liked, he let our country down and now President Trump is having to be the bad guy and fix everything.