Derek Scissors | AEIdeas
It’s true that continued economic expansion would make the deficit with the People's Republic of China smaller as a share of total US wealth. It’s also true that a bilateral trade deficit is a dubious measure of success or failure. The question is whether people who were convinced by 2016 candidate Donald Trump’s talk of the greatest theft in history, millions of jobs lost, and even rape will be convinced by the president insisting the trade deficit doesn't matter now.