Economist Justin Wolfers says the United States is misunderstanding the basic purpose of global commerce, warning that President Donald Trump’s combative approach to allies has helped push Canada to deepen ties with China.
Trade Not About ‘Competition’
Wolfers said Canada’s recent trade deal with China is concerning but not surprising, with the United States increasingly turning into an unreliable friend and partner in recent months, while appearing on MS Now’s “Alex Witt Reports” on Sunday.
Pushing back against Trump’s understanding of trade, Wolfers said, “trade is not fundamentally about competition,” adding that it was really about “cooperation” instead. “It’s not us versus Canada. It’s us and Canada,” he said.
He added that if the U.S. fails to “reliably cooperate with Canada,” then it shouldn’t be surprised if its northern neighbor turns to “new friends” to cooperate with.
The result, he said, is that “Americans miss out” on products and services, while the United States ends up with “less friends” in the world, which he said was a “very bad place to be.”
Trump’s Tariffs Fail To Slow China’s Exports
Despite escalating trade and tariff tensions throughout the past year, Trump’s tariffs against China have failed to dent the Asian giant’s export machine.
According to the latest report from China’s General Administration of Customs, the country’s exports have risen 6.1% year-over-year to 26.99 trillion yuan, or $3.87 trillion, while imports only rose modestly by 0.5%, at 18.48 trillion yuan, or $2.65 trillion.
Economists such as Gita Gopinath of the International Monetary Fund have attributed this surge to rising demand from European and East Asian markets, while saying that it was “hard to see this last.”
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