09-03-2025
Mar-a-Lago's ‘trade deficit' isn't a problem. Neither is America's.
All that, of course, would be in addition to the palatial dwelling itself, which was built of Doria limestone imported from Genoa, marble blocks from Cuba, and
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Trump may be a fervent protectionist who
Mar-a-Lago, which exports nothing except perhaps some
Nevertheless, Trump has long persisted in believing that the way to expand American wealth is to make it harder for Americans to import goods from abroad. Hence his new trade war, launched with the imposition of a 25 percent tariff on most imports from Canada and Mexico and now scheduled to take effect on April 2.
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'The tariffs are going to make us very rich and very strong,'
But that can only be true if the way to enrich Americans is to reduce their choices and raise their prices. It's crackpot economics, and even if Trump's most devoted acolytes can't see that, the market can. When the new tariffs kicked in, Wall Street began hemorrhaging; by the end of the first trading day, the US stock market had
Trump's rhetoric about trade oozes with nationalistic resentment.
'We support Canada $200 billion a year in subsidies one way or the other,'
None of that makes sense.
To begin with, Trump's basic facts are wrong: The US trade deficit with Canada
a trade deficit is not a subsidy
. When US consumers and companies buy goods, services, equipment, and commodities from Canadian suppliers and manufacturers, they aren't bestowing a gift or paying above the market price. They are spending their wealth to buy things they want or need and can afford to pay foreigners to supply. The United States is not being cheated when it imports products from Canada and around the world; it is being enriched. Just like Mar-a-Lago.
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Contrary to Trump's petulant claim, we
do
need Canadian lumber. Otherwise, American construction firms wouldn't
Americans
. The same is true of all international trade, just as it's true of all trade across state lines and municipal lines. Both sides benefit or there would be no deal.
For most of the past 50 years, the United States has run a trade deficit with the world. For most of those 50 years, the US economy has rocked. Curtailing Americans' ability to do business with their neighbors will not make America great again. It will only make it poorer, no matter how much Trump insists otherwise.
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