Trade imbalance explained with charts

Trade imbalance explained with charts

The Wall Street Journal has a handful of charts that briefly explain trade deficits and imbalance, which were used to calculate the recent “liberation” tariffs. A trade deficit is the difference between the value of the goods and services a country imports and the value of goods and services it exports. A deficit means that a country is importing more than it exports. A surplus means the opposite. Economists sometimes examine the total trade bal…

The Trump administration's 31% tariff on Moldovan exports to the US has sparked public reaction, including accusations against Moldovan diplomacy. But economist Stas Madan dismantles these theories and explains the mechanism behind Washington's decision: an automatic mathematical formula, not negotiations or political sanctions. “We have seen statements like 'Moldovans are cabbage for negotiations', but the reality is that the tariffs imposed by…