Under President Trump’s description of a trade deficit, America is losing money to Mexico, China, Germany and Japan.
America had a trade deficit with all those countries in 2016. But that’s not the same as losing money.
A trade deficit means the U.S. bought more goods and services from each of those countries than they bought from America.
These normally mundane trade stats, which were released Tuesday, have come under fire from Trump. He frequently cites trade deficits as a reason to renegotiate or even withdraw from deals with other countries.
