One of Donald Trump’s most important trade advisors, Peter Navarro, defended the American president’s trade policies some time ago in an article in the Financial Times, making at least one very strong point that went unnoticed in continental Europe. …
Jeffrey Sachs says: ‘A country’s trade deficit (more precisely, its current account deficit) is not an indication of unfair trade practices by the surplus countries. It points to something quite different. A current account deficit means that the deficit country is spending more than it produces. …
Now they are all up in arms. Nasty Trump has made good on his threat. He has indeed imposed tariffs on products from half the world, which should ensure that US imports rise less quickly and the US current account deficit falls. …
In the current debate about government debt, practically all experts are wrong because they simply ignore the macroeconomic interrelationships without which government debt can neither be explained nor justified. Almost all of them, even the seemingly enlightened ones, have remained Swabian housewives in one way or another. …
