Remind me again - what did the Republicans finally pin on Bill Clinton after grilling him for hours about his sex life? Oh yeh. Perjury.
6
Best. Correction. Ever.
15
Trump is wrong!he will put our economy in the garbage.
Ther is no reputable economist who agrees with him.
3
I'm 72 and a life long liberal. This article fails to refute. So it's really a $600B deficit instead of a $800B deficit. And it's been big deficits forever, as long as I can remember.
This imbalance plus the effect of ever decreasing taxes on the wealthy has, in my opinion, NEVER been satisfactorily addressed by the Democrats. I know. The Dems haven't been in favor of raising the top tax rate but I have NEVER heard them really fight to raise it again to the levels when America really was great and was building a vibrant middle class.
When will the left take a time out on defending minorities to address economic theory? Its the economic theory stupid!
3
"In fact, the United States had a total trade surplus of $7.7 billion with Canada in 2016, and a surplus of $4.4 billion through the third quarter of 2017."
Why does the press print his lies without correcting him every time? You keep giving him a free ride to tell lies!
8
I missed the original mistake but am still laughing at the correction. Thank you for the levity.
3
As usual, he's ill informed at simply lying. His supporters are usually the former, his spokespeople, the latter.
4
That economics report is 568 pages long without any cartoons. C'mon...
5
I'm wondering if it mentions where most of this country's coal ends up. (Hint: NOT HERE.)
1
I am no fan of this so-called president, but the rebuttal and clarifications offered here are nit-picky and don't address Trump's misguided protectionist misconceptions.
Ask yourself this:
Since the chances of a perfect balance in demand/supply between any two nations is highly unlikely, which situation would you rather have: China has OUR stuff and we have THEIR paper money? Or we have THEIR stuff and they have OUR paper money? I'll take our current trade surplus arrangement ANY day!
The precise figures are besides the point.
4
I would like to see the NYT confront Huckabee, Pence and Trump with Trump’s past statements about the GM bailout between the years 2008 through election day. Trump at one time was supportive of the bailout, then was a free market opponent of the bailout. So was Pence.
The free market advocates asserted capitalism was about survival of the fitest. Now, it seems Trump believes in protecting weaker companies?
Whatever Trump’s reasons or motives are, one must ask, what econometric projections have been done to show that post tarrifs, the benefit to the steel workers and US steel companies will receive an economic benefit greater than the economic loss to US workers and industries in other sectors? Moreover, how does the US factor in the economic loss of the good will of other nations?
If no projections have been done, is the US being asked to rely upon Trump’s musing and nothing more than? If we are asked to rely upon Trump’s musings, should we make all major policy decisions with a Ouija board?
7
Donald J. Trump does not understand how world or American economics works. He is a promoter who has been very lucky that he was born into the right family and met many talented people along the way whom he, promptly, discarded or sued after taking their ideas and money. The one bright spot in all this, for those of us who know full well he is lost and confused, will begin to shine about two years from now. That's when Trump's 95% (ers) will, still, be waiting for the millions of jobs that won't come to the hundreds of new factories that won't be built or re-opened.
3
KOHN'S Voice will no doubt be missed, but it was not he who divided Trump from his fellow Republicans. Rather, it was Trump himself who, by constantly shifting his position and apparent (but deceptive) loyalties, manages to gain the upper hand. An observation was made that in competitive computer games, logical responses were defeated by an unpredictable violent troll. And so it is with Trump, who has loyalty to none for longer than it takes him to forget what he committed to within the past 10 seconds. In addition to his apparently severe limitations in the linguistic, memory and brain as well as executive functions of the brain, he aslo has two powerful malignant influences from the start. From birth through college, it was his father who, in 1917, was arrested for fighting with police after a KKK rally; then his demented mentorship with Roy Cohn in the 70s when he, for example, along with his father, refused to rent apartments they had built to African Americans. Cited by the government, they sued for $100 million. The case was dismissed and Trump Inc had to pay undisclosed fines as well as to sign a dissent decree. Trump has continued with that pattern of attack and chaos, food fight and calm, bequeathed to him by both his extremely violent father and extremely demented mentor, Roy Cohn. Why the GOP permitted Trump to stand as a candidate is a severe indictment of the party. Who would chose a person involved in 3,500 + suits, and counting?
7
Not just a big liar but a bigger whiner! Can we trade Trump away? Subsidized 100%
9
Trump's ability to spout bald-faced lies were on full display in his press conference with the Swedish prime minister. He referred yet again to his his year-old lie about an imaginary Muslim terrorist attack in Sweden -- "I was right." He said "all the best people" were eager to work at the White House because "everyone wants a piece of the Oval Office." He said Sweden was the 8th largest investor in the United States (actually it's the 15th). And he said the United States is ready for Russian interference in the November election -- when his own intelligence chiefs point out he has done nothing to punish the Russians for past cyber attacks or protect us from future cyber attacks. The only true thing he said was "I like conflict."
7
It's not just "most economists" who don't see a trade deficit as a loss. It is 99.99%, including every sane one who could pass Econ 101! If another country sells us more than we sell them, it's because we got good deals on their stuff--better deals than we were giving them. We didn't lose the money--we bought stuff with it at a better price than we could get domestically.
The trade deficit is also, as any first year Econ student should be able to tell you, another way of looking at the difference between how much foreigners invested in the US and how much Americans invested in foreign countries. In other words, a trade deficit is an investment surplus. Two sides of a single coin, calculated the same way.
Trump is either willfully ignorant, or unable to grasp freshman economics. Sad!
9
I bet if President Bernie did the exact same thing, he would be praised. Champion of the people, and all that.
2
President Bernie would not be praised, but he would be pitied.
1
Linda claims Trump’s overstated numbers contradict his own report because some numbers are overstated. They do no such thing. She concedes there are less factories and less manufacturing jobs, EU has higher tariffs, trade deficits with developing countries are massive, and we have moved to more of a "service economy." This is exactly what Trump is trying to correct.
Deficients of 400B vs 500B do nothing to refute Trump’s substantive argument. The transparent narrative engineering here is stunning.
2
"... we have moved to more of a 'service economy.'
This is exactly what Trump is trying to correct." Really? We need to "correct" our global dominance in the fields of accounting, finance, technology, engineering and law? Oh, of course! These fields don't readily lend themselves to the realm of alternative facts. Let's just ignore them.
Smh.
1
So Trump wants to "correct" the shift from a economy dominating by the manufacturing of goods to an economy dominated by services? How is this going to help the US? As (briefly) stated in the article, this shift has happened in all developed countries. It is an inevitable part of the shift from the industrial society to the post-industrial society. As the the economy develops and wealth increases, higher value work (such as the tech industry) takes over and lower value jobs are transferred to those countries that are behind in the development curve. Why should any developed country want to reverse this? It sounds completely backwards.
6
That is not what we have now. Developed countries are (largly) labor shifting (through migration policy and off-shoring), not innovating enough to explain the dislocation. EU is more protectionist than US though so I should not overgeneralize.
OTOH love to hear your opinion on Five Star Movement crushing the Italian establishment.
What I wish the article had mentioned with regard to the tariff on washing machines versus the tariffs on steel and aluminum is that one is a tariff on a finished consumer product, and the other is a tariff on raw materials. In terms of the macro-economic effect, there is a world of difference between the two. A tariff on a consumer product like washing machines has no effect on other industries, because it deals with a consumer product, and may result in a modest benefit. Imposing a tariff on a raw material such as steel or aluminum, on the other hand, increases costs for every product or industry that makes use of those raw materials, from the automobile industry to the construction industry, from the soft drink industry to, yes, the washing machine industry.
We can argue over the utility of tariffs on consumer products. But tariffs on raw materials is sheer insanity.
11
Countries create wealth by making things and selling them. Service industries are not essential, they create jobs and wealth when times are good. Consider, when you have the money one can hire an accountant to do your taxes. In lean times you do them yourself. In good or bad times essentials like food, energy telecommunications and transportation cannot be sacrificed. The US does not manufacture semi conductors, few electronic goods etc..Basically China could shutdown the electronics businesses in this country. So what if the US has service industries.
1
When you can provide your own medical care if you're very sick, THEN claim that service industries aren't essential.
When you can repair your own modern car, and the host of other complex devices containing lots of electronics that most Americans rely on, THEN claim that service industries aren't essential.
2
So most of Trump’s facts are essentially correct, but corporate “free traders” choose to interpret them and spin them differently.
1
Yes, if by "essentially correct" you mean "incorrect."
3
The base doesn't care if he lies and lord knows, Fox News isn't going to check. I'm suprised he didn't exaggerate more!!!!
4
And how much does the left leaning crowd that constitutes most of the NYT readership cares about "exaggerations" (AKA lies) of the likes of HRC and Trump?
And how much would MSNBC doing to expose those lies?
Funny how that works.
In order to exaggerate on something you first have to know about what you are talking about. So how is it possible for Trump to exaggerate when he don't know squat. Forbes just rated him at a little over 3 billion, what happened to the 10 billion he used to talk about. Typical braggart makes everything bigger then it really is.
5
When will Congress take action for incompetence?
3
As soon as the GOP-hijacked Congress takes action on its own incompetence and cowardice towards Trump. Never.
That is until the November elections.
4
This GOP Congress needs be given the boot. Before we can addresss Trump's incompetence and corruption, we need to address theirs.
2
Just alternative facts! Truth is illusive and Trump is the cypher within a mystery within an enigma.
2
Truth may be “illusory” or it may be “elusive,” but I doubt that it can be “illusive.”
1
Actually, "illusive" is perfect.
President Trump has done a great job bringing jobs and faith back to America. The main stream media never covered Trump's Davos round table with many international heads of big business promising to bring billions of dollars and thousands of jobs back to America because of the tax cuts. (find it on you tube) The Stock market is up, illegal immigration is down by 70%, jobless claims at a 50 year low, lowest African American and Latino unemployment in decades. North Korea finally talking, The American Embassy finally moved to Jerusalem yet the NYT and the media hate Trump. They don't want America to succeed.
The economy was in good shape in 2016, it is just the continuation, as it would be under Clinton. However, the unnecessary tax cut will end up overheating the economy and will cause recession in 2019.
4
From the article: "The European Union imposes a 10 percent tariff on American-made cars, while the United States’ tariff against imported European cars is just 2.5 percent."
Why does Trump have to lie when the facts are pretty horrifying without any embellishment?
How about fixing this?
1
He lies. It's not news. Open some space for reporting important things with this article formula: "Trump lies about trade figures. End."
Trump is functionally illiterate, and is completely and utterly ignorant of pretty much everything. Worse, he hasn’t demonstrated the slightest interest in learning, even after almost 14 months on the job. He’s unaware of his job role, Government Policy, History, Economics, or even much of what’s going on around him. If it’s not on Fox News, and not about him, he’s not interested!
Face it, America: Trump is trying to woo Pennsylvania, nothing more. He’s a Child in a man’s body playing at being President, and using the Position to make money, and get even with his enemies. Congress trying to debate him on this is pointless - he’s just making it all up as he goes along. This isn’t much different than Trump deciding that Red Balloons are essential to National Security... Reality just doesn’t matter.
Congress thinks if they can get him to do something in line with their needs, then he’s great. Otherwise, he’s a menace. They’re as bad as he is, as both sides are just pursuing Private Agendas for Select Special Interests. The true needs of the nation... haven’t mattered to Trump from Day One. Same with Congress, which has been pursuing Ideological Interests since Early 2011.
We will not get back to actual “Governance” until Democrats Control the Congress and the White House.
5
The USA doesn't need to engage in a trade war for the simple fact it doesn't need to worry about its trade balance.
And it doesn't need to worry about its trade balance for the simple fact it is beyond trade. It is the monopoly producer of the most valuable commodity in the capitalist system: money. Money is the universal commodity, the commodity that can transform in any commodity.
Every other country need to worry about trade balance, because they don't produce money. They produce coupons that appear as money within their territory -- but the Dollar is the only true money, which is a monopoly by definition (since there can be only one universal commodity).
Every other country must kiss the American ring if they want to trade internationally. The USA doesn't need to bother to trade, because it can print money to buy what it wants. That's why, after 2008, the USA was the first country to recover -- it paid its own debt and exported the crisis to the rest of the world.
1
Republicans and Democrats, currently in Congress, and in all governmental agencies, present their particular take on trade, and their knowledge of trade (often minuscule) to their constituents, in such a way that the party currently in power is seen as being empathetic to their constituents, as opposed to the reality of being entirely friendly to their corporate masters, and their wealthiest donors, clearly favoring and enacting policies which disenfranchise the poor and the middle-class.
To signal otherwise would be their death knell. This is the way the game is played.
Both sides exaggerate, when it benefits, as most of the population gets its news from the mainstream media, all of whom have allegiances to both parties, and which allegiance mostly always favors the political persuasion which most closely resembles the persuasion of the particular media source, so the take-away is to take everything you read, and hear, with a very large helping of salt, and then do your own research.
The internet is overflowing with all manner of data, some accurate, and other date, not so accurate, so know the intent behind the particular entity whose data you are reviewing. Remember, nothing is quite what it seems to be.
Some facts provided in the links below -
https://www.thebalance.com/trade-deficit-by-county-3306264
2017 : U.S. trade in goods with World, Seasonally Adjusted is a negative 796,183.2 Billion dollars, see
https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c0004.html
1
If only Ryan and other Republican leaders would stand up to him. Ryan is already backpedalling a more hardline free trade stance to accommodate a recalcitrant president. Congress looks weak and ineffectual. Not good for mid-terms.
1
History will show Trump for what he is and the people who supported him for what they are. Not too bright.
2
He has no capacity for dialog. He just loves speechifying. No one challenges him.
1
Love the title of this article - isn't this what he does on a daily basis - exaggerates and misleads?
Trump has never told a truth in his life this must be why he makes a perfect fit with the utterly incompetent and corrupt GOP as they are all Trump's in sheep's clothing continually in a state of selective ignorance.
The fact is that no country can run a $500 billion forever.
We will have 1 trillion budget deficit in 2018. That is scary!
This article is puzzling and frankly irrelevant, what with its facts and all. The fact is that trade is what Mr. Trump, our President, says it is, and the sooner our trading partners realize this simple fact the better. If they want to reap the benefit of being our friend and ally they need to start showing proper respect for America's perspective and abandon their obsession with their own peculiar perception of trade. Freedom!!
Democrats can keep whining about Trump's lies and distortions and somehow find comfort in the equally misleading data in this article - or they can learn the lesson of the 2016 election, which is you can't take large portions of the electorate for granted for 30 years without consequence. Yes, automation reduces job count, yes, the US economy is dominated by services, yes, the numbers Trump uses are dodgy, but hundreds of thousands of hard-working Americans have lost jobs in manufacturing and along with them their standard of living and quality of life - and not because foreign competition was more innovative, efficient or smarter - it was because those companies paid their workforce less than a living wage in their own countries, ignored the environment, and received targeted assistance from their governments - and US companies that benefited from cheap imports. All those now-Trump-supporters got was ignored by Republicans and lied to by Democrats...for decades. If that doesn't change, the next "Trump" could be far worse, and the rest of us will probably deserve it.
1
I always thought sons are there to assist their Dads in time of need, but it appears when a nation has a self imposed 'genius' President like Trump, then he doesn't need help from his family. Considering the many questionable personable actions by the president, one would hope someone in his family would take Trump aside and explain a few things.
My friends say that my politics borders to the left of Lenin and that would be an exaggeration. But this article is all about how he has misquoted his numbers, 800 billion instead of 500 billion and so on.
I certainly do not support Trump and his policies in many areas, particularly his notion that he can govern while dividing the nation based on color and creed.
But to say he is wrong on the continued (and continuing) current account deficits? I wish some of them would tell me why it is so good and what can be done about it.
In imposing the tariffs against steel and aluminum, Mr. Trump is not surgical. But there is nothing misleading about his rants that our current account has shown a deficit for nearly 25 years or that because of globalization good American jobs have been lost with nothing to replace it.
I remember when facts used to matter. We can thank Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell in our waning belief that anything will ever be done about the daily lies, contradictions, exaggerations, and confabulations of Donald Trump.
1
The best lies always contain a grain of truth, it’s all in the wording. Unfortunately, the majority of Trump’s base are not able/willing to parse the finer points.
When you look at the article, you find one falsehood, one dumb mistake, an awful lot of "rounding up" and putting the best possible spin on numbers, but no true attempt to deceive. The man believes free trade is bad for the US and has focused on (or cherry-picked for the cynical) real data supporting his position. I fear that we have become so used to everything this administration says being a lie that we can longer look at a perfectly normal political argument without making fun of it. This is not a good thing. It also suggests that some of the wingnut belief that the left is simply "out to get him" is not invalid.
1
Glad to see the US trade surplus in services mentioned. But the writer should also have included Foreign Direct Investment in the US. That is essentially the same as exports except the money and the things that were purchased with it (like steel mills, aluminum smelters, auto factories, and hotel and office buildings) all stay here. The US is the biggest recipient of FDI in the world, with about $350 Billion in 2016.
This is a wonderful article. Now we know the following facts:
Trump claims: US lost 6,000,000 manufacturing jobs (Fact: it is about 5,500,000 jobs)
Trump claims: 55,000 factories closed (Fact: 77,000 closed)
Trump claims: 800 Billion deficit (Fact: 810 Billions deficit in goods, 566 billion deficit if including services)
Trump claims: EU makes it impossible for our cars to sell there. (Fact: EU imposes 10% tariff on US cars, US imposes 2.5% tariff on EU cars.)
2
A disturbingly large portion Americans do not care about "fact checks," else Trump's candidacy would have been dead in the water in the primaries. Even now, a big chunk of voters treat facts as static, and their only take-away about Trump's tariffs is Trump's tweet "we must WIN again."
Trump supporters will not "wake up" by this point. It's up to everybody else to go to the polls.
1
The fact is that no country can run a $500 billion per annum deficit forever. And certainly not when other countries have mercantilist policies that mean there is little likelihood of reversing the deficit in a free market.
1
First these comments by the president are political speech, not a college paper. It is simple according to me, demand in the US supports economic activity around the world. Some is fine to run a deficit for charity or for friends. Running large deficits with say China who tries hard not to buy things from us and basically cheats is not. Those tariffs are small and limited, I could do much worse by holding up stuff at ports for inspection.
So what you're saying here is it's OK for the President to lie, and make policy based on lies; because it might work out.
But guess what? Policies based on facts usually work out better than policies based on lies.
3
Don't you so-called smart folks in the press get it yet? Trump's latest stupid stunt is only designed to create chaos, attract attention for himself as narcissist-in-chief, finger scapegoats (here, supposed "cheater" nations") and fire up this astonishingly gullible shrinking base, which make lemmings look like rugged individualists.
2
The media needs to stop mincing words like a politician.
Trump is a liar, so call him a liar. Stop equivocating and state the facts. Anything less is fake news.
2
Trump either can't read, or doesn't read. Trump doesn't listen fully to his experts, but memorizes a few sound bites. He is the most illiterate President that we have ever had.
On a good day he works for about 6 hours. He spends the rest of his time watching television, eating or tweeting.
He takes more time off than any other President in recent times. He has spent about 1/3 of his time off playing golf, not to mention visiting his businesses.
So, how would he know the true statistics that his experts in trade could teach him?
14
He is doing politics and keeping his word in this as in almost every area.
1
Nope, he is not keeping his word. Wall is not build and Obamacare is in place. Tax cut will only produce bubble and we all pay for it in 2019.
Trump can't open his mouth without lying about something. It's too bad so many still believe the lies.
37
While Washington dithers, China and other countries are eating our lunch in terms of developing clean renewable energy systems and modernizing their infrastructure (which creates jobs and manufacturing). Too bad our president and his supporters only see short term financial gain instead of long term greater good and prosperity.
49
So Trump proclaims that "...trade wars are good and easy to win." Those of us in the Trump age demographic learned the ins and outs of trade on the schoolyard playground. We traded with our friends Mickey Mantle baseball cards for Willie Mays cards. Although we had never heard the term "zero sum game," we knew that good, fair trade was a win-win.
Since it's hard to imagine Trump on a playground trading with his friends (or having any friends for that matter), we might want to cut the guy some slack while he uses our country to come up to speed on trading concepts. Well, maybe not.
11
Is it possible, probable, that the idea of tariffs came DIRECTLY from Putin? Considering what we already know, this seems quite likely.
22
Would someone tell the President that we are now operating in a global economy in which all countries trade, manufacture, innovate and thrive or fail based on the value they bring to table. This is not a recent development.
16
Why should the US have a 2.5% tariff on cars when EU tariff is 10%? Looks like a good place to start.
Are liberals concerned with blue collar folks in Detroit?
Bernie understood. Labor was always the backbone of the Democrats.
9
@mike-it appears your knowledge of trade is as extensive as Donald Trump's. Higher steel and aluminum costs, as well as retaliatory tariffs on American goods will hurt the blue collar workers in Detroit as well as in many manufacturing cities. Yes, liberal and progressives are concerned about blue collar workers, that's why we tend to vote for reasonably intelligent people with actual understanding of policies rather than reality TV game show hosts.
1
Mike, we sell many more cars than the European producers aggregately. The blue collar folks in Detroit are not hurting due to European tariffs and also some European companies produce many American jobs such as Mercedes Benz in Alabama, Kia in Georgia, BMW in SC and VW in TN.
1
It kind of evens out because many European cars are actually built in the u.s., for example BMW produced 50,000 cars in the u.s. last year which provides many jobs and other benefits. The relationships are more complex than most people understand.
1
Trump doesn't read and doesn't reason by weighing data from different sources. Trump makes decisions based on his emotional state of the instant. This is not new information; heads of state recognized this immediately and began using this to lead Trump where they want him to go as soon as he got into office.
10
Remember when Hillary barked back at a GOP committee member badgering her about Benghazi? She asked "What difference does it make?" The same applies here. This president lies all the time and it makes no difference. Expecting this president to tell the truth about anything is an exercise in futility.
He lost money on his casino. He declared bankruptcies multiple times. He even cheats at golf. To him "the next few weeks" could be a lifetime. Accuracy with numbers is something he has failed at for his entire life. He could care less if what he spouts off is inaccurate, a white lie or a whopper. By tomorrow he could tell us that millions of coal miners have gone back to work and a third of the country will believe him.
25
If he isn't out of office soon - willingly or unwillingly - we're going to wind up in trade war we can't win with a tanked economy, higher unemployment and inflation. MAGA?
14
Just as the liberal media played down the job losses from globalization, they naturally want to play down the effects of the trade deficit.
Trade imbalances put a drag on employment and economic growth, but the .1% applaud unemployment and globalization has ended any concern they may have had for US workers or the overall state of the economy.
And since the people who own the media are wealthy people who are happy with the economy, the media will sacrifice their credibility in trying to convince us that the economy is doing just fine.
Pundits and economists like Krugman ignore the abysmal labor participation rate and cheer the so-called "full employment" we have allegedly attained, while praising sweatshop labor.
What the erudite economists and liberal politicians failed to predict was the economic malaise paving the way for orange-tinted charlatans and their phony populist appeal.
Trade imbalances are bad for the working class economy but you won't learn anything about this in our media.
Here's a thorough review of the issue from independent economists:
http://jwmason.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Mason-2016-Dealing-with-th...
4
Well, you might also consider that "conservatives" have been bashing and undermining unions for years in order to reduce labor costs, something capitalists have always sought to do, and always will.
In addition, Trump demonstrates no ability to understand, let alone implement, anything from the sources you cite. Moreover, he does not care about jobs for the middle or lower classes; he is in power only to promote his own businesses. The rest of his nonsense is just that, killing time, until he gets what he wants for Trump, or until he is out of office.
2
Ed,
Its refreshing to see some are not swallowing the mainstream media baloney.
While I despise much of what Trump is about, on the trade imbalance he is on the money, not that he gives a hoot about how it affects the poor and the middle-class.
When he stated an $800 Billion deficit for 2017, he was accurate to less than $4 Billion, see the census.gov foreign trade report https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c0004.html
1
@Ed Waters
The "J.W. Mason - Roosevelt Institute" is NOT 'non partisan' and never has been.
It's comical that so many folks who can't even balance a check book seem to think they're 'world class economic scholars'.
2
Der Trumper, a compulsive liar. Once again, this time on foreign trade. He just cannot control his impulse to trick his way out of any situation by deceit.
If he is such a "patriot" why the heck he ventured out to Scotland, the Emirates, Panama, you name it instead of remaining in the USA only, "magnanimously" bestowing those jobs created abroad by the presence of the "T' word to "true Americans". Furthermore, why he is known for stretching or, frankly abusing the Immigration loopholes to employ foreign labor at, I guess discounted wages at the expense of "true" Americans??
What a pharisee!
8
With this kind of misinformation on economic issues, can you imagine what would happen if we ever get into serious negotiations and diplomacy with the North Koreans? Would the media and Congress accepted these constant inaccuracies and dishonesty from any other President?
6
Americans have benefited greatly from the Bretton Woods monetary systems, over the years. Even in the hollers of WVA their children have advanced educationally and in terms of global competitiveness. Now, apparently, America will go back to the starting line and demand a redo. America First? It's not where you start.....
7
Trump knows nothing besides creating chaos and lying. I don't know what it takes for his base to realize this.
18
This article is hilarious. If a democrat was in power the article would be written - OMG, we have huge trade deficits and must protect American jobs and the blue collar , democrat voting, union workers. The exact numbers really don't matter - they are ginormous (yes that is now a word). The country is hemorrhaging nearly $600 BN (nearly not exactly) to other countries. It is a huge transfer of wealth out of this country to others. It is time we stop this disaster.
2
Most of that deficit money is actually still here in the U.S. as it has been reinvested by foreign entities in real estate. stocks, and business purchases or loaned back to us through banks and the purchase of treasuries. Either way, you are correct, there is an enormous transfer of wealth and many choose to look the other way. It is unfortunate that Trump (not my candidate, btw) has approached this problem with his usual lack of sensitivity, however, at least the discussion is being had.
Why all of a sudden, conservatives switched from debt-crying to trade-crying?
Under Bush and Obama trade deficits was almost the same and no conservative even mentioned that.
Now, like a puppets, trade is killing us!
Debt? Who cares about debt.....
As an American living in Canada, it is absolutely outrageous that Mr. Trump treats a stalwart ally like Canada with such disregard. His lies about trade with Canada continue despite experts pointing out over and over again that the US has a trade surplus with Canada. If anything, it's Canadians who should be complaining. I am truly embarrassed to be an American. The US government owes all Canadians an apology. Irreparable harm is being done to relationships with our strongest friends and allies, and the Republican led Congress are enabling this outrageously incompetent administration.
61
If Canadians really loved us they would give us Justin Trudeau and take Donald Trump and his entire family in a "fair" trade. That would definitely make MAGA. (A girl can dream.)
4
Only equals can be allies. Did Rome have allies? Canada needs to start showing an appreciation for America's interests and start coughing it up, if it wants to enjoy friendly relations. Either that or start building its own wall. Freedom!!!
Keitr...
You do realize Canada has been by us in every war and conflict except Vietnam and the second Iraq invasion. Canada has also had more combat fatalities per capita than we have (especially including those killed by our U.S. aircraft) in Afghanistan.
Trump's most stupid comment so far is "Tariffs with love and compassion". It is like stabbing in heart with love and sharp knife. We should blame ourselves to elect this ignorant egomaniac self-centered inexperience person to run the country. If we do not vote or vote using heart (not the brain), then we get a person like Trump as our leader. Unfortunate.
13
It's totally unfair of us to try to confuse this elected president with the truth. Facts are just pesky.
6
You mean to tell me that Trump is either a liar or doesn't know what he is talking about? Who would have ever guessed?
Lets face it folks whether Trump knows it or not credibility simply isn't his thing. The man boy really needs to find some reliable sources before he starts blurting out what he has been told by conspiracy theorists and agenda driven political outlets are facts. He seems to be totally unaware that the they are recognized around the world as unreliable sources of reality and fact.
The sooner he is gone the better. A president incapable of dealing in reality is for all intent and purpose useless. Not to mention a clear danger to democracy and world stability.
8
This article could be titled "Trump's Exaggerated and Misleading Claims on (Fill in the Blank)"
8
Shocking ... a man with an econ degree from Wharton has such a poor understanding of global economics.
Oh wait ... he promised these steel workers they were getting their jobs back.
15
Not to mention that Wilbur Ross apparently bought up a bunch of defunct steel mills and wants to use the tariffs to resuscitate them...but that should take a very long time.
1
I hope you are not suggesting that Trump should read his own economic reports?
He is far too bussy watching Fox&Friends.
11
How about some big government intervention to support marginal industries with connections at the top!
Smells like socialism Soviet style!
2
"Trump lies, misquotes facts, and exaggerates" is "Dog bites man"
3
..."Trump's exaggerated and misleading claims"?
Oh pulleese, he flat out lies.
7
Maybe the time has come for the real, mature media institutions like the NY Times to start showing this president's lies and near-lies in a different color and font on their web pages, and in their printed media.
I cannot think of any other way to dam this daily, hourly torrential river of lies spouting out of Trump and his various minions.
5
Donald Trump: “Ummm......25%, 10%, well, who cares? I have spoken. Whatever. Ask me tomorrow. You know me. I love to change my mind. Who doesn’t”
3
A useful generic headline: "President Trump's Exaggerated and False Claims On..."
1
What!? Trump is lying and exaggerating???
NO!!!!!
Unfortunately, that's only meaningful for those of us in this "Reality Based Community." Trump's supporters live in castles in the sky. Fairy tales are the truth when all you believe are fairy tales.
34
President Trump continues to display his
ignorance unashamedly. However, more
worrying are 60+million voters who are
easily manipulated. In 2004 after George W Bush was declared winner, Daily Mail of London headlined 'how 63million voters(votes
cast for George Bush) could be so stupid'.
In 2016 Trump got 62 million votes. President's policy pronouncements are a
concern but greater concern are those more
than 60 million voters who can inflict damage
on the country every four years. Trump is in
campaign mode and if employment situation
is good he could be re-elected. Republicans
are are fawning over him and with their
control of congress, checks and balance
are out the window.
15
thanks for pointing out the FACT that the US enjoys a $7.7 billion (approx) trade surplus with Canada annually. We get tired of hearing POTUS state there is a "massive deficit". Speaking of which Canada itself had a $1.9billion trade deficit in January alone this year. one other thing why is Canada now considered to be a potential national security risk when it come to steel and aluminum imports? does over 200 years of friendship count for nothing in the Trump White House?
70
I think he doesn’t know the meaning of the word “friendship.”
4
Trump is so unstable and so uninformed that he may actually believe the nonsense he spouts day in and day out. The worst president in modern history is the face of the Republican Party.
40
Donald Trump portraying America as the world’s victim is pathetic and so far from the truth as to be laughable. Letting a man with the massive personal insecurities Trump has, project them into policy is frightening.
46
Since when have facts mattered to Trump?
24
Wait...Trump exaggerating? Misleading? How can this be?? This is such a surprise!! not
13
Trump isn’t really talking about a trade deficit. He is telling us a story and setting us up for the punchline. The story of wronged America plays into the punchline of rolling back regulations. Getting rid of environmental and work place regulations to bring back clean coal and give Wall Street brokers money to invest in steel is the real narrative. Trump has a line he is feeding to his base. Tariffs are just part of the realty show TV series that Trump presents. He is the lead actor in this production written by Miller with production by Koch and Mercer.
49
The word "Trade" is the only variable in the headline. Substitute any other subject on any other day and the headline would be equally valid.
22
U.S. Trade in Goods by Country
Trade in Goods with World, Seasonally Adjusted
https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c0004.html
2
Trump knows absolutely nothing about trade and the economy. Plus he's crazy. This is him angrily spinning his wheels because his assistant quit. Mix that up and what is there to say?
God help us.
21
Well, at least the man is consistent. Not a true statement to be spotted... Talk about a "perfect" record.
Trump voters that support still support him will have a lot to answer for. The US is sliding into a space where the rest of the world feels it has become the "crazy uncle", unreliable at best, mostly untrustworthy.
I've been crisscrossing the planet for the last 3 years. The US's reputation is in tatters. Repairing the reputation might just about be out of reach by now.
Regaining trust is a very hard or impossible thing to do. Just look @ Melania & Donald..........
23
I can hold my breath longer then Trump can go without telling a lie.
26
Great, the king of The Bankruptcy Model of Failed Business Operations is now in charge of US trade and economic policy.
Thanks again Trump voters, thanks again electoral college system.
24
"America’s trade deficit narrowed dramatically during the Time of Shedding and Cold Rocks"? Cool name for "Great Recession."
1
Everything Trump does is calculated to cause chaos and volatility. Perhaps he personally profits from it -- in addition to distracting from Russia.
However, when it comes to trade, he is getting close to a real issue, namely the US now lacks the means to conduct a defensive war because there has been so much erosion of its manufacturing base. If we we have a war with China we won't be able to import steel from China. More important, we know we cannot recover from an EMP attack because our power transmission network is not hardened and key components are only made in Germany with lead times of over year -- by which time 90% of us will be dead for lack of power, lack of food, lack of fuel, criminality, etc.
We should be identifying and subsidizing key industries -- even if in mothball status -- so that they will be there if we need them. Hopefully something good will come from the new attention.
2
Not just that, Ken. The sky is falling.
1
Trump should indeed focus on key specifics, but of course a) there is no evidence that he reads, identifies or cites specifics, and b) he gave away the money to harden our transmission lines in order that already rich people can give every billion to their kids and already flourishing companies can buy back more of their own stock.
1
"Time of Shedding and Cold Rocks." Do you mean the Great Recession?
It is important to understand that Donald Trump knows very little about anything. He has hired his help to make his decisions for his entire life. That's what a $13 million dollar start up legacy can give to you. If he made a bad call in his business, he declared bankruptcy. If he makes a bad call now, it doesn't matter to him. His statements about trade show a simple minded man with little or no concept of how world trade works. If he is wrong (as he certainly is) he'll blame it on some underling or other, and move on.
17
Of course the President's claims are exaggerated and misleading. Why would anyone expect anything different from all his other claims?
1
"In cases where the United States is the respondent, “it still wins 25 percent of the time, a rate that is better than the global average rate of 16.6 percent,” the report noted. That rate is far better than the rates of the European Union and Japan (which have never won a case brought against them) and China (which has won only 5.3 percent of the time)."
So the author of yet another anti-Trump "fact check" spends the entire article nitpicking everything Trump said about trade to make him look like a fool. And then at the end of the article, in one sentence, unwittingly presumably, basically admits that Trump is right about unfair trade practices. If the EU and Japan have NEVER won an action against them in the WTO, a normal person would believe this is because those countries are inordinately engaged in unfair and protectionist trade practices. But the Resistance is not comprised of normal people.
4
Thank you for the voice of sanity.
Folks need to get over POTUS issues and look at the facts on trade.
The current state is unsustainable and MUST change at some point.
4
Yep. It's the Times who is making Trump look like a fool. He is such a misunderstood genius. While logical minds listen to what he actually says, his, uh, followers rant and yelp about "what he probably might have meant". Or something. Yep. Sure. Delusions. Yuge delusions.
I suppose "nitpicking" is a relative term. The POTUS cites figures that are bloated by 30% to 40% in order to bolster his argument. I wouldn't label that as nitpicking. We're at the point that facts and truth are nebulous and that is a scary place to be. Trump is more than complicit in this trend. Misleading, exaggerated and the like - there are costs to being loose with facts and then hiding under the guise of "fake news" when you're called out.
7
Given the frequency of Trump's lies, might it not be easier to document only the times he tells the truth?
14
It's not just on trade deficits and tariffs about which this president has exaggerated claims and misled the American people. He has out-Pinocchioed his supporters in Congress and his base about every policy and issue since 2015. Fact-checking this president would be a full time job.
The president was the Grim Reaper who predicted doom for America unless he was elected over Secretary Clinton. Now with a trade war looming with the global economy, he says that the world is wrong and he alone is right. We've heard that one before.
6
Why is this news? Everyone should expect lies from 45. It would only be news if fact-checking proved him to be correct about something. There doesn't seem to be much chance of that happening.
5
Unfortunately, the White House has become a fact-free zone. Trump never has appointed a science advisor and now his economics advisor has left.
But who needs advice when you are going to ignore it anyway? (Although he does seem to occasionally listen to his lawyers - who have kept him from firing Mueller and plunging us into a constitutional crisis).
5
Trump’s Exaggerated and Misleading Claims
are
Trump's Ignorant Base-Pandering Lies
There.
Fixed it.
Stop stooping to soften the blow.
In bigger news, the rank and file GOP so enamored of Trump's tax cuts is now just waiting for Mueller to do his job - because Pence won't push a business-destroying trade war once Trump is gone.
4
Trump clearly skipped most of his economic classes. Wharton must be very proud to claim him as an alumnus...
4
Trump has bragged that he never bought a textbook.
It shows.
2
I'm not sure how Jim Tankersley's "Great Recession" became "the Time of Shedding and Cold Rocks", but it amused me.
These reckless Tariffs committed to by Mr. Trump aren't about trade at all. In the view of this mental health professional, Its about his psychological baggage. Namely, his victim mentality. His persecution complex. A perception that he's always treated unfairly. Everyone has it in for him. So he perpetually fights back. That's one reason he bullies. It makes him feel more powerful and less weak (the way he apparently feels deep down.)
Thus, he projects that same perception of always being maltreated onto our trade partners sticking it to the USA. (They laugh at us he frequently projects.) So, he does what he does best. He fights back.
But through the fog of his personal war against being treated unfairly,, he's incapable of seeing the bigger more complex interconnected picture of how trade works including unintended consequences that will affect us, our allies, and the global economy.
In other words, there's no room in this decision- maker's retaliatory mind except retaliation. And it's all unconsciously done. He reacts. He doesn't think. And that's what makes this man with so much power (surrounded by fear-based enablers who refuse to restrain him) so extraordinarily dangerous
6
Trump lies with consistency. Thank you for publishing the actual, verifiable facts.
1
"President Trump’s Exaggerated and Misleading Claims on Trade."
Is there something more to this?
2
It wasn't that long ago that someone claiming the US was moving towards a service industry was derided as a heartless Republican who wanted to ship good paying US jobs overseas. And their only interest was the corporate bottom line and that those displaced workers had families to feed!
With globalism the new liberal mantra, does this mean liberals will stop making fun of those who shop at Walmart and purchase "cheap Chinese goods"?
Whether a supporter or not,based on this ignoble man's 'integrity' rather lack thereof,are there people who STILL take Trump at his word?...I mean,seriously at that?!
2
It is important to understand how "Bizarro World" Trump's trade policy has become. The wrong numbers are highlighted here, but the meanings being given to numbers are even worse.
Bilateral trade balance is being treated as a measure of whether a country wins or loses from trade. So long as sales are voluntary both countries actually gain, and a deficit does not even tell you which country gained more.
Multilateral trade deals are treated as inferior to bilateral agreements. But the United States gains economically when there is increased trade between Australia and Vietnam, and would gain even more if our trade ties to both countries increased at the same time.
Overall trade balance is treated as a direct loss to a country. Not only does that ignore the goods received in return, but it falls to recognize that MANY good things will increase the trade deficit.
Failure to recognize that trade deficits can be caused by good things is particularly bizarre since most positive economic activity by the Trump Organization increases the trade deficit. When it builds an apartment building, not only do any foreign materials used add to the trade deficit, do so do the foreign consumer goods bought by it's workers. Even if it then sells an apartment to a foreigner, that doesn't count in the trade numbers.
Unless Trump wants to say that it is bad for the country when he builds a building, he should not think of trade deficits as only bad.
3
Calling Trump's trade tariff claims 'exaggerated and misleading' is redundant, too wordy and too gentle. While calling Trump's claims 'lies' is more apt, clear and focused.
By treating Trump as typical his outrageous behavior shifts the meaning of normal to an extreme extant threat to preserving, protecting and defending our Constitution.
5
As someone said, he believes what he says, but he doesn't know what he is talking about in reality. He applies the little that he doesn't know on the subject as if it is the beginning and end all, when it is just a cockamamie idea that will spell disaster, as has been the case in all of his ventures. By declaring bankruptcy over and over he has swindled his way to what, we really don't know. He may be leverage in ways that we never dreamed. Our concern, though, remains. Will he do the same to the country? He's trying.
4
The smartest man Donald Trump knows
From fake hairdo down to his toes
Is a constant misleader
Mispelling dawn tweeter
Even on fans gradually grows.
On bankruptcies he's up to date
On Economics not fifth rate,
Do those of his Base,
Now have a red face?
Has adoration turned to hate?
24
"Like most developed countries, the United States is primarily a services economy, said Scott Lincicome, a trade analyst at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. And American service sectors — like accounting, finance, technology, engineering and law — are globally dominant."
So, Donald Trump's knowledge of what we export is stuck in the 50s and 60s when manufacturing (labor based) was preeminent over knowledge products (services). He doesn't seem to acknowledged the important changes resulting from an integrated, global economy.
Trump's fixation on trade deficits have been his bete noire for decades--but are increasingly simplistic and wrong. In fact, I'm amazed his numbers are so far off.
I've also heard that he cites whatever Sean Hannity claims on his FOX evening show.
Hannity, is not exactly an expert economist-- he doesn't even have a college degree.
Trump's other supporters on tariffs are Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro--not exactly experts on trade.
By framing this argument that "the world is out to get us," all Donald Trump is doing is fanning the flames of resentment, which keeps his increasingly narrow base happy but risks doing real damage to the US economy because his new policies are based on a US economy from decades ago.
73
The Con Don lies every time he opens his mouth. About everything.
Thanks to all the stupidos who voted for him and put OUR United States of America and the world in grave danger.
94
When one decides on gut instinct, vaguely deficient understanding of economics and anachronistic world view then we are in for a turbulent economic environment.
Trump doesn’t read, has flea bite ability to peruse information and doesn’t believe that any minuscule headed person has better abilities than him then we have the following very apt description as in a Bloomberg article:
Trump means
Temporary,
Reversible,
Uncertain
MFN (most favored nation) Preferential policies"
All bad things, at least in most economists' view, when it comes to trade.
9
Look, this guy has done everything except murder someone and still he sits in the highest office in the land. He's put people in charge specifically it seems to dismantle everything his predecessor accomplished, and whether right or wrong, the republicans back him, and turn a blind eye. It's disgusting, but until someone is able to remove him according to the rules, he will continue to rule as if he were a CEO.
51
Yep, and an incompetent failure of a CEO at that.
6
Actually, he'll continue to rule like his heroes Putin, Erdogan and Duterte.
3
Trump is simply delivering on his campaign promises. Thus far, our system of government is NOT a benevolent enlightened dictatorship, governed by illiterati from the press,nor economic (often self proclaimed) experts. Moreover, so far the Trump economy is booming (as is foreign policy -notably NK)-
Data collection systems, molded to conform to years of Obama globalism will now have to be re-thought as Trump's new policy is tested . In the interim, the very least that should be admitted by everyone is- Trump is doing what he promised-and what many of us elected him as President to do.
2
It doesn't mean that what you wanted him to do was in fact the best policy. It seems that there is general consensus that he and his supporters are behaving foolishly and naively in most areas, trade, environment, immigration to name a few.
4
Good example of " Just tell them and they will believe it".
4
He promised a trade war??
Gosh, I must have missed that rally.
It's pretty scary that voters like you have no clue of the consequences he is going to suffer if he applies those tariffs and starts a trade war. The EU has over 500 million people and they act as a single unit. Add 37 million from Canada and 127 million people from Mexico, and 207 million from Brazil and the U.S. will get hammered with tariffs leading to higher prices, inflation and significant job losses. It's incredibly stupid.
2
This man lies constantly. He does so for his own purposes and benefit. This was a familiar truth to those in the New York area for decades. This should now be understood by the rest of the nation and any in the world who are forced to pay him any attention. His dishonesty and egotistical malevolence are the only constants about the man.
87
Ok, so Trump is attempting to bring back steel and aluminium production to the USA. But in anno 2018 most of the work in a brand-new factory, and they would have to build steel mills back up from scratch, would also be done not by humans who vote. Nope. Robots will dominate the base metal production he's talking about...omitting the aspects of artificial intelligence and robotics from the discussion is another indication of what a truly dim bulb this moronic president is...
39
Actually, the U.S. is engaged in the biggest con in the history of superpowers. We exchange symbols known as American dollars for real goods, created, not out of thin air as our dollars, but out of genuine sweat and tears.
In China, the tears come literally in the form of air pollution that makes it unsafe to breathe in their major cities, partially due to factory emissions from makers of the products we love. What these factories have done to their water is a long term environmental disaster that won't affect anything coming out of our taps.
It's great that we use our funny money to get all this neat stuff, but I wish we'd invest it more wisely while the rest of the world is forced to believe in it. Infuse some more of it in long term infrastructure projects, for instance. I don't care where the steal and aluminum comes from.
6
I have massive trade imbalence with my employer (in my favor). They pay me for my services, I never buy theirs.
17
Which is exactly the point someone else recently made re: the irrelevance of trade deficits.
As that person wrote, just because you spend a couple of hundred bucks a week at your grocery store, do you expect them to have to buy $200-worth of veggies from your backyard garden?
1
Glad you picked up my sarcasm.
Trump lives in a fantasy world blended of FOX NEWS and 1950's perceptions and biases.Psychology teaches us that the basic personality does not change over a lifetime.Trump is a selfish;borish;arrogant thin skinned child. His emotional development stopped at about age 13;he will not change. He has the attitude about trade and deficits from 50 years ago. Trump will not change. Ray Sipe
64
Agree wholeheartedly. And, as in any dysfunctional family, when the child feels the heat coming down on him (ie the recent deaths of 17 children, the NRA & guns debate, the ever-evolving Mueller investigation, Hope Hicks leaving, etc, etc..), he "acts out" negatively to draw the attention away. He "acts out" for attention, to maintain attention, to distract & to dismay. He does this by fantastic lies & outrageous proclamations, signifying nothing. The media bites & we all react & he is reinforced once again as "the problem child". His ever-shrinking base & the GOP, as his family enablers, are accountable for this travesty. His acting out behaviour is exactly that of a troubled 13 yr old -- the seeds of which were laid well before even then. His continual attention seeking & aggressive behaviour would have been seen in Kindergarten & throughout elementary school.
7
He did it again. Just when we thought we could keep the spotlight on the need to do something about guns Trump changed the subject, and we all, including the NYT, fell for it.
13
We are wayyyy past the point of petty distractions, this is policy change that has dire affects. People have every right to be upset by this and the dozen other issues that push the boundaries of legal behavior and the global consequences we will face simply because he's an angry, lying, narcissist.
5
I understand what you mean but neither trump nor the NRA determine what we think focus on. The movement to focus on gun violence is growing and determined. March For Our Lives on March 24th!!!
2
facts don't matter to trump and his supporters. what matters is looking good. that's getting increasingly difficult for them but they're game. so far.
11
At this point why is the NYT using euphemisms like "exaggerated" and "misleading." Trump is an inveterate compulsive liar, plain and simple. He has proven it a thousand times over. Please use the word "lies."
139
"Misleading claims" = Lies
Most politicians are smart enough to cherry pick facts to frame their arguments, not Trump. He just spews facts, true or not, that he’s heard or even made up. Is it any surprise that his Tweets or statements contradict his own administration’s economic analysis?
54
We need to avoid buying into the sloppiness and deceptions which are part of Trumpian discourse. We must not let Trump, or his sycophants redefine words.
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT of a fact is that it must be true!
Statements, assertions and claims, which are not true, ARE NOT FACTS! Such things do not become facts through repetition. "Everyone is saying" something does not make it a fact. How popular or widely believed a statement is has no impact on whether or not it is factual.
The term coined by Trump's minions 'alternative facts' is absolute rubbish. An untrue statement may be an opinion (which should be stated as such) or a lie but, it is in no way a fact.
1