Wednesday, September 12, 2012

U.S. trade deficit widens. Again.

Ugly new trade figures were released yesterday for the U.S. in July.  As the Alliance for American Manufacturing noted,
  • In July 2012, the U.S. racked up an international goods and services trade deficit of $42.0 billion.
  • The monthly goods deficit with China rose to $29.4 billion in July, up from $27.4 billion in June.  This is the fifth straight month of a rising trade deficit with China.
Said Scott Paul, Executive Director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM): 
"After five months of rising trade deficits with China, it’s time to face the facts: this trade relationship isn’t working. 
"U.S. goods are highly competitive globally, but Chinese imports continue to surge into America. Our elected leaders in Congress and the White House are not doing enough to stop China from flaunting the rules. There’s a deep undercurrent of concern among American voters about the U.S.-China economic relationship..." (Ed note: Ya think?)
Wait, it gets worse. Researcher Alan Tonelson found that the manufacturing trade deficit is $63.9 billion, an all-time high, Bloomberg reported. Tonelson sent a written statement saying:
America’s new record manufacturing trade deficit shows that the U.S. economy still suffers major competitiveness problems, that a domestic manufacturing renaissance remains a distant and possibly receding goal ...Without major changes in U.S. trade and manufacturing policies, further backsliding will be inevitable, and the nation’s current economic woes will be prolonged.”
Ya think?