After studying with not one but two Nobel Prize laureates in economics (officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel), then working as a trade subcommittee aide in the US House of Representatives, and then as a senior staffer at the IMF, I learnt that trade deficits result from a country collectively spending more than it earns, and that the most effective way to cut trade deficits is to cut government budget deficits.
A trade deficit most definitely does not represent some kind of profit by other countries, although those that lend money to cover the gap between spending and earning do normally earn interest.
Politicians may hate to admit this fact of life, but I’d guess that Peter Navarro, Trump’s senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing, is well aware of it (“Trump’s tariffs will fix a broken system”, Opinion, April 8).
Richard Gordon
Bethany, CT, US
