124 Do US and China Trade Differences Call for Tariffs?

The balances of the net trade in goods and services are a key indicator of the economic health of a country. To analyze current conditions, I compiled the 2017 net trade results for 124 countries. I found that the US showed the largest negative trade balance in the world. China reported the second largest positive net trade balance. Such conditions cannot be remedied by tariffs.

Using data from the World Bank I first collected the positive trade balances for 55 countries. The balances added up to $1.52 Trillion. That included Korea Rep., Netherlands, Ireland, China and Germany. The negative balances for 66 countries were $1.08 Trillion. That included the United States, India, Turkey, Canada and United Kingdom:

In 2017 The difference in net trade between the countries with a positive cash and negative trade balances was $437 Billion. 

Positive countries contributed only 17% of the total of global trade of $2.6 Trillion. Surely, more global trading could have been used to make a greater contribution to the wealth of impoverished population.

The current USA balance of trade was a negative $568 Billion. The USA trade deficit increased national debt to 108% of GDP while the current debt level in China is only 51% of GDP.

Summary:

The US capacity to sell goods and services must be now rebalanced from generating negative trades to producing positive cash earnings. That is an investment issue, not a regulatory matter. Changes in policy are necessary to concentrate on boosting the US GDP and to resume growth through` international markets. Increased tariffs cannot do that.