By Victoria Hines
According to a report
released by the Economic Policy Institute, Ohio lost 112,500 jobs due to trade
with Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries. This job loss supposedly results from the United States’ trade deficit with members of the agreement. TPP
opponents are calling in part for enhanced currency manipulation safeguards in
the TPP; they attribute currency manipulation to the United States’
increasing trade
deficit. However, supporters, including the Obama Administration, continue to
defend the TPP, arguing the findings are questionable. These data critics say
that analysts are ignoring jobs that are supported by imports, leading to
skewed results.
By Justin Kirschner
The US trade deficit widened in December as exports hit a
four-year low, according to numbers
released on February 5. The trade gap rose 2.7% in December to $43.4
billion, up from the newly-revised November deficit of $42.2 billion. December
exports were $181.5 billion, the
lowest monthly total since January 2012. Why the recent tumble? It's
likely because of a generally weak global economy coupled with a strong
dollar that made American goods and services comparatively more expensive on
the global market. With the Federal Reserve likely to gradually increase
interest rates, and the Fed’s foreign counterparts likely to push their
domestic currencies in the opposite direction, the stronger US dollar will
likely make US goods and services more
expensive overseas throughout this year.
By Victoria Hines
Congressman
DeFazio urged
Americans this week to drink craft beer in order to help deal with the U.S.’s
trade deficit. He reasoned that by drinking beers produced by foreign-owned
companies, Americans are contributing to the trade deficit, which has recently
increased by 15.6 percent in August.
A trade deficit could potentially be detrimental to the U.S. economy if
it increases the value of the U.S. dollar. However, DeFazio’s comment is
somewhat misleading. Although some major brands, such as Miller, are foreign
owned, they are still generally brewed and bottled stateside and thereby do not
affect the trade deficit.
