U.S. trade gap with China reaches all-time high under Trump

Not looking good.

The U.S. trade deficit in goods with China set a new record during President Donald Trump’s second year in office, despite his efforts to rein in what the administration views as Beijing's trade transgressions. The trade gap rose to $419.2 billion in 2018, from the previous record of $375.5 billion in 2017, a Commerce Department report released Wednesday showed.

Source

This news coming in follow earlier trade negotiations with China set by the Trump Administration. Estimations put a loss to the US of $19 billion as a result of the trade war. It's also costing the tax payer in other ways. Earlier, the administration had to organise for a $12 billion relief fund or bail-out for soybean farmers who were hit by the tariff war. Funds some farmers fear won't be enough. Trump earlier celebrated what he thought was a win in the trade war where China agreed to purchase 5 million metric tons of soybeans from the US as part of negotiations. Not really a win considering that in 2017 soybean exports to China were 23 million metric tons.

Are we winning yet?

a reply to: Southern Guardian

Since soybean farming is destroying our farmland and making us more dependent on other countries, I cannot feel too sorry for the farmers. They can't grow much on their land anymore since they poisoned it so it will not grow other crops, they have been led astray by the soybean promoting businesses. I would have rather seen them grow good food instead of soy and also the corn used to make gasahol. their practices are poisoning the environment.

If you're against it, it must be a good thing.

You have to know and understand now that you're a perfect measure on how the administration is doing.

China is feeling the crunch and long before Trump, the deficit was steadily increasing.

Logically and obviously a trade war will continue that trend, but you gotta break a few eggs, hmmm?

For the most part, America wins.

I've been winning since Obama got out of office. I'm guessing you're not winning?

a reply to: Southern Guardian

Yes, we are winning, as evidenced by the strong economic numbers.

If you are blaming Trump for a problem that has been decades in the making, i can not take you seriously.

Of course there is some pain involved, but what is the alternative? Continuing with the status quo? Allowing intellectual property theft? Watching our manufacturing base leave the country?

The help to the soybean farmers is necessary to offset the fact that virtually all chinese exports to the US are subsidised, giving them a huge competitive advantage.

Your TDS is clouding your judgement.

The worst trade deficit in US history
The doubling of the Federal deficit in 2 years
A President bypassing congressional budget controls
A President cosying up to dictators.
Kiddies in detention....

Is this what winning looks like, or is it all fake news ?

a reply to: Cassi3l

or is it all fake news ?

Looks like you answered your own question.

Here's another link I came across and was debating starting a first long thread... instead some juicy bits in yours:

As Trump wages trade war, U.S. goods deficit hits record high in 2018

“The trade deficit exploded last year despite the Trump administration efforts to make America great again, and the trend is unlikely to get any better in 2019,” said Chris Rupkeychief economist at MUFG in New York.

“Perhaps Donald Trump will now discover that tweets and bluster alone won’t dramatically shrink the trade deficit,” said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing in Washington. “The administration’s fiscal policies have helped to boost the trade deficit.”

While goods exports hit a record $1.7 trillion in 2018, they declined in the last three months of the year, weighed by the U.S.-China trade dispute, slowing global demand and a strong dollar, which is making American-made goods less competitive on the international market.

And then below the data on the slowing market and the quickly expanding trade deficit.

A 1.9 percent drop in exports of goods and services drove the trade deficit in December to $59.8 billion, the largest since October 2008. Imports of goods and services increased 2.1 percent to $264.9 billion in December.

When adjusted for inflation, the goods trade deficit surged $10.0 billion to a record $91.6 billion in December.

The jump in the so-called real goods trade deficit suggests that the drag from trade on fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth was probably bigger than the 0.22 percentage point estimated by the government last week. Economists expect the government will revise down fourth-quarter GDP growth to a 2.3 percent annualized rate from the 2.6 percent it reported last Thursday.

Economists expect. And even though our GDP is being corrected to 2.3 percent, you can expect the White House to latch onto the larger number and keep repeating the false 2.6 percent. But we know the truth now.

For comparison, let's look at some recent years that had a similar or larger annual GDP:

2010 at 2.6%
2012 at 2.2% (nearly equal)
2014 at 2.5%
2015 at 2.9%

By the time Trump is done, we're ALL gonna want America great again! You know, Obama great!

a reply to: rickymouse
a reply to: Mach2
a reply to: Arnie123

How Trump has made both the trade and budget déficits worse

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know what happens when the government spends more while taking in less: the deficit goes up.

The federal deficit, $665 billion in fiscal 2017, is projected to be $984 billion in fiscal year 2019 (which began on October 1). That’s an increase of 48% in three years.

To finance it, we have to borrow more, and guess who our biggest foreign lender is? Hint: It’s a five-letter word starting in “C” and ending in “A.” All this gets added tacked on to the debt, of course, and as the interest piles up, we’ll have to borrow even more. It’s a vicious and costly circle.

In turn, this foreign borrowing makes the trade deficit worse.

“If foreigners buy more government bonds (which is how the Treasury borrows money), that causes an appreciation of the exchange rate,” points out Sherman Robinson, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “This makes our exports more expensive abroad and imports cheaper to U.S. citizens.”

Which means foreigners buy fewer of our exports and we buy more of their imports. It’s that simple.
Thus the law of unintended consequences: Trump said his policies would curb both the debt and the trade deficit—but he has only made both worse

This failure to grasp even basic Econ 101 hasn’t stopped Trump from telling his base—or them believing him—that everything’s going great.

... snip ...
We are shifting into a lower gear whether Trump—or his base— believes it or not.

Whinging about trade deals for soyabean farmers, sticking stupid tarifs on steel or even car imports is not going to make things better : the deficit will continue to grow, and is starting to look like a run-away train.

Trump needs to put up taxes to bring in the easy money
and quickly, before it's catastrophically too late

That being said, Trump knows a thing or two about bankrupting businesses
Should we really be that surprised if Trump's ÜSA goes belly-up too ?

a reply to: Cassi3l

Our trade deficit is a runaway train. Trump has barely touched the imbalance, maybe the trade deals he is working out will help. More and more of what is being sold in stores is made somewhere else, Trump has not stopped the increases at all, I actually think it may be too late to stop this. It should have been addressed during the Bush years, Clinton really made it worse. Clinton signed the free trade agreement, which shifted over a lot of manufacturing to countries who poluted a lot more than the USA regulations would have allowed. Clinton actually increased the CO2 problems more than any other president or individual ever did.

a reply to: rickymouse

Since soybean farming is destroying our farmland and making us more dependent on other countries, I cannot feel too sorry for the farmers. They can't grow much on their land anymore since they poisoned it so it will not grow other crops, they have been led astray by the soybean promoting businesses. I

Who told you that crap?

Cause not a word of it's true.

Soybean is no different than any other grain crop.

originally posted by: neo96
a reply to: rickymouse

Since soybean farming is destroying our farmland and making us more dependent on other countries, I cannot feel too sorry for the farmers. They can't grow much on their land anymore since they poisoned it so it will not grow other crops, they have been led astray by the soybean promoting businesses. I

Who told you that crap?

Cause not a word of it's true.

Soybean is no different than any other grain crop.

Sorry mr. Monsanto, or is your name Bayer now?

a reply to: rickymouse

It's called denying Ignorance.

Growing legumes increases soil productivity( different plant needs).

Legume=Soybean.

A President bypassing congressional budget controls
A President cosying up to dictators.
Kiddies in detention

LOL, stretching it a bit.

Oh well, Dims gonna Dim.

a reply to: rickymouse

and also the corn used to make gasahol

Is gasahol the same as the E-85 they advertise now?... I do remember gasahol at a couple stations maybe 40 years ago?

a reply to: Mach2

The help to the soybean farmers is necessary to offset the fact that virtually all chinese exports to the US are subsidised, giving them a huge competitive advantage.

Remember that if you ever want to mention Obama and Solara... just saying

a reply to: neo96

Monoculture and monocropping are still major issues in Canada and the US.

Most industrial agro-biz isn't playing the rotation game, they are playing spray and pray with Monsanto.

a reply to: BoscoMoney

A President bypassing congressional budget controls A President cosying up to dictators. Kiddies in detention LOL, stretching it a bit. Oh well, Dims gonna Dim.

He did
He did
There are

how is that "stretching it a bit"

pubes will be pubes

originally posted by: neo96
a reply to: rickymouse

It's called denying Ignorance.

Growing legumes increases soil productivity( different plant needs).

Legume=Soybean.

Never heard of glyphosate I take it?

originally posted by: rickymouse

originally posted by: neo96
a reply to: rickymouse

Since soybean farming is destroying our farmland and making us more dependent on other countries, I cannot feel too sorry for the farmers. They can't grow much on their land anymore since they poisoned it so it will not grow other crops, they have been led astray by the soybean promoting businesses. I

Who told you that crap?

Cause not a word of it's true.

Soybean is no different than any other grain crop.

Sorry mr. Monsanto, or is your name Bayer now?

uk.reuters.com...

WINNIPEG, Manitoba/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Monsanto Co is facing major threats to its historic dominance of seed and herbicide technology for the $40 billion (28.51 billion pounds) U.S. soybean market.

Rivals BASF SE and DowDuPont are preparing to push their own varieties of genetically modified soybeans. At stake is control over seed supply for the next generation of farmers producing the most valuable U.S. agricultural export.

They are all at it now. They have competition. I fear we are in big trouble.

Half of the topsoil on the planet has been lost in the last 150 years. In addition to erosion, soil quality is affected by other aspects of agriculture. These impacts include compaction, loss of soil structure, nutrient degradation, and soil salinity. ... The effects of soil erosion go beyond the loss of fertile land.

ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Generating three centimeters of top soil takes 1,000 years, and if current rates of degradation continue all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years, a senior UN official said on Friday. About a third of the world's soil has already been degraded, Maria-Helena Semedo of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told a forum marking World Soil Day.

Those are the facts. It is very frightening. How many billions of us made hungry at the same time? What a war of desperation that will be. I don't think it will come to that though. I have an idea soon realization will dawn, but not before a catastrophe or two I bet.