'Trade wars are good, and easy to win,' Trump tweets

[robkelk]

CBC Analysis: A trade war is a political act of economic destruction

Whether in a real war or in a trade war, waving the flag is politically popular in a way that is hard to understand to those who live through the ultimate consequences.

If I quote all of the cogent text, I'll quote the entire article... so I'll limit myself to one passage:

It all may be part the president's political campaign to convince supporters he's making America great, says Canadian economist Matilde Bombardini, currently working at California's Stanford University. But it's not economics.

"It's madness, from the economic point of view," says Bombardini.

Bombardini, on sabbatical from her job teaching economics at the University of British Columbia, has been watching the U.S. up close. And she says the U.S. trade deficit has nothing to do with bad trade deals or unfair tariffs.

"It's purely the result of their fiscal policy," she says, as the U.S. sells bonds to countries like China to make up Washington's soaring budget deficit. "They sell T-bills and they buy goods."

Basically, if the USA wants a better balance of trade, then start selling stuff. Don't just lend money to people in other countries.