Comments on: Why the US Trade Deficit Persists /economics/why-the-us-trade-deficit-persists/ Fact-based, well-reasoned perspectives from around the world Sat, 04 Apr 2026 07:43:29 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: mudit3@gmail.com /economics/why-the-us-trade-deficit-persists/#comment-40733 Sat, 04 Apr 2026 07:43:29 +0000 /?p=161381#comment-40733 The answer is simple and not complicated. It is cheaper to import than produce in USA. The costs are higher in USA and the rest of the world.

]]> By: Pooka MacPhellimey /economics/why-the-us-trade-deficit-persists/#comment-40724 Wed, 25 Mar 2026 13:12:58 +0000 /?p=161381#comment-40724 There is one part of the “trade deficit” that you don’t mention in this article – that a large part of it is in fact illusory – it doesn’t exist. That is to say the way in which trade is accounted for fails to take account of ways in which large US corporations keep a proportion of their revenues out of the United States, even though they are generated by US activity through various games with transfer pricing. This is somewhat reflected in the US trade in services surplus which in 2025 reached $339.

No one knows for sure, but it’s believed perhaps ½ or more of the massive U.S. trade deficit is simply an accounting artifact due to methods that fail to capture how goods and services are priced and paid for, the tax games being played by corporations.

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