11/28/2004

International Pressure to Fix Trade Gap

America's international trade deficit has continued to grow for many year, but economists and those on Capital Hill have put it on the back-burner and now that has drawn the attention of many in the global market. "Overseas officials and international trade organizations have called on the U.S. to deal with the problem before it inflicts global pain," states the author. At the same time the U.S. has become somewhat dependent of global economy. So many solutions and strategies are proposed by policymakers, but the author writes that there is no easy solution. Increased international demand could help the U.S. exports, but growth in both the European and Japanese regions did not meet recent expectations and are thus becoming less dependable for the U.S. to increase its exports. Another idea mentioned would be to increase U.S. savings because it would decrease the need for the U.S. to depend on international funds.

Maybe the international attention will raise the sense of urgency by the U.S. and the U.S. will realize the enormous impact we have on the global economy. The global economy is so dependent of the U.S. and hopefully economists and Capital Hill will find a strategy that will be effective for both the U.S. economy and the global economy.

1 comment:

Dr. Tufte said...

-1 for a link that doesn't go to the article. This is a bit off the subject of managerial economics too.

No knock on Jake, who is just discussing what interests him in the news, but this sort of argument really ticks me off. You see this a lot in discussions about trade policy - did you notice that there is no mention of consumers here? Measuring how economies are doing is all about the well-being of citizens. It isn't about how "overseas officials" or "international trade organizations" feel, it's about how you feel. Do you feel good when you can buy something more cheaply because it is made in China? If yes, then that is a good thing. And it should be the primary thing. All other concerns are secondary, and to elevate them above consumer sentiment is a bit twisted. But sometimes people do it anyway.