Libertarian-leaning GOP Congressman Justin Amash responded this morning to Trump’s completely-wrong-no-good-and-backwards-beyond-belief Twitter claim about trade deficits:
We have lost 500 Billion Dollars a year, for many years, on Crazy Trade with China. NO MORE!
A trade deficit is not a loss of money. If you buy from a supermarket or go to a movie, you have a trade deficit, but you have not lost money; you get stuff (groceries, entertainment, etc.) in exchange for your dollars.
Trump’s understanding of trade is pre-modern, where modern as an era stretches back centuries. Since that time, others have misunderstood the basic truth Amash set out in his tweet, but those others who have misunderstood have been profoundly ignorant to the point of being crackpots.
In this regard, Trump’s like a flat-Earther: despite an empirically-established truth, he obstinately clings to a false notion.