The US gets only 8% of its oil from the Middle East
(consume about 2/5s from our own production)
The US imports only 2% of its steel from China.
(consume 2/3rds from our own production)
China only has a .7% trade “surplus” overall
The EU has the world’s highest trade surplus, and 8.4% unemployment
Imports are not actually subtracted from GDP, instead they are mistakenly counted in consumption or investment but since GDP stands for gross domestic product, they shouldn’t, so they are removed just to prevent GDP from being overstated.
Imports are the benefits of trade and exports are how you pay for them.
Trade deficits are basically like getting a loan, and don’t indicate robbery anymore than you borrowing money indicates robbery
Historically tariffs increase the trade deficit because demand for foreign currency falls(as it becomes less useful) appreciating the currency
Tariffs on raw productive inputs tend to hit employment of those working in industries using those inputs harder than it benefits makers of the input.
Since exports are linked to imports, and restriction on importing will lead to less exported as well.
