Former US President Donald Trump used to refer to the trade deficit as a troubling factor and even resort to protective measures and tariff hikes in order to narrow the gap. Still, macro trends show that the US trade deficit has steadily grown over the past several years until it jumped to a whopping $948.1 billion, its largest total on record under the Biden administration.
US economists have traditionally warned that a growing trade deficit could result in further loss of manufacturing jobs, depressed wages, and slower economic growth.
According to the US press, rapid inflation and higher energy prices could be responsible for some of the recent spike, since the trade data is not adjusted for inflation. On the other hand, the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes strengthened the US dollar, which eventually made foreign goods cheaper than American ones, fanning the trade deficit up.
Even though the Western media reported that some European industries are looking to settle in the US over fears of looming recession and energy crunch in the EU, many of the US' own production facilities remain overseas. Recent Commerce Department data indicated that the Americans have a long way to go to reshore production back to the US.
Last year saw the US trade deficit in goods grow strongly with Mexico, Canada, India, South Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan. According to the US press, this was largely caused by Washington's attempt to diversify its trade with China. In particular, the US trade deficit with Mexico grew 20.7%, reaching $130 billion.
However, despite tensions simmering between Washington and Beijing over a wide range of issues, including Taiwan, the South China Sea, the Huawei telecom company, and sweeping semiconductor restrictions, US-China trade remained strong. Apparently one could hardly imagine that the US trade deficit with China would rise by 8.3% to $382.9 billion in 2022, the second-highest total on record. The media suggested that this happened due to US companies' unwillingness or inability to sharply cut ties with China.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden avoided focusing on the trend during his latest State of the Union speech, in which he proclaimed that the US had overcome the 2022 economic and supply chain crises and emerged triumphant. Still, as American conservative observers say, the US president's optimism is not grounded in reality.