Trump claims the trade deficit with Canada is a $200B subsidy. Experts disagree
Trump claims the trade deficit with Canada is a $200B subsidy. Experts disagree
41 comments
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I feel like I've seen "Trump claims--Experts disagree" a lot lately
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Literally everyone with passing knowledge of economics disagrees. That's just not what trade deficit means.
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Both Trump and Musk have degrees from the supposedly reputable Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
If these two are evidence of their quality of graduates, it really raises questions about whether it was another US institution where ‘legacy’ and money buy admissions and it’s impossible not to graduate.
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"Donald Trump was the dumbest goddamn student I ever had."
William T. Kelly, Wharton
This came to light immediately after Trump tweeted about Kelly calling him "the smartest student I ever had".
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They both know that's not how it works, what's important is that their vase doesn't so they can claim to have improved things by reducing the trade deficit.
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The "tariffs for everyone guy" doesn't know what's going on, I'm shocked.
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"I think that in Trump's mind, he sees trade as a zero-sum game," Moshe Lander, an economics professor at Concordia University, told CBC News. "He's just hearing the word deficit. And that's the end of his math calculation."
He couldn't calculate anything even if he tried.
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This is a wild quote, because it's still trying to apply a lens that is focused on economic decision making.
Trump never pays his bills. He thinks paying people for their work or products is what suckers and losers do. He actively steals from people, and he thinks it's the smartest thing he does.
He thinks the US is wrong for paying for what it buys. Nothing more complicated than that.
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Trade deficit means you’re getting more stuff than the other side is.
He’d rather have the dollars than the stuff?
What are you gonna spend the dollars on if there’s no stuff?
Isn’t “too many dollars chasing too few goods” the textbook definition of inflation?
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He’d rather have the dollars than the stuff?
No, he wants both. That's why he doesn't pay his bills.
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a $200B subsidy
That's not how trade works. One side has something the other side wants. They agree to make an exchange.
Both sides win.
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That's how Trump thinks, though. Every transaction is zero sum to him.
I'm also convinced saw the "deficit" part of "trade deficit" and either automatically assumed it was bad thing or knew he could convince low-information voters that it was.
Or maybe he is a dumbass and someone on his campaign staff was the crafty one.
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The chart there says 4 million barrels per day, so multiply that by 50 dollars a barrel times 365 days a year... 73 billion dollars, larger than the entire US trade deficit with Canada. If they want to eliminate it, all they have to do is stop buying oil.
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this is starting to sound like sovereign citizen stuff.
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All of this bullshit because some fucking guy couldn't properly set his windage.
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Maybe he was a time traveller sent back to fix things, but the travel sickness got to him
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Or he was too big to fit into the time machine, so half his brain got lost in the time loop somewhere.
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It was 100b then 150b then 200b...
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I want you all to know that I blame the American voters for this. I mean those that abstained or voted Republicans. I curse you all.
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I curse you all.
Unnecessary. Trump is their president. The blight is upon them whether they realise it or not.
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Did you a word out?
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I did! Thanks 😂
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Yep, Americans are that stupid that they pay Canada and them get nothing back in return and they're all fine with that!
Of course this isn't the case, but the average American is dumb enough to do this
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I subsidize my credit cards.
Time to invade MasterCard!
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Weird, you mean a country with a smaller population imports fewer things?
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It's more like Canada produces a lot of the raw goods America consumes while being more self sufficient in manufacturing.
A larger population should be what creates a trade surplus, if anything, as citizens of industrial societies almost always produce more than they consume. And they consume a lot.
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Trump doesnt claim, he just pulls it out of his ass making shit up.
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It's really easy to put out numbers when they are made up on how you currently feel. Of course they are wrong, he doesn't care and neither do his followers.
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