AdvertisementEconomists are puzzled to see Trump trying to overhaul the existing economic order and doing it so soon after inheriting the strongest economy in the world. It’s true that some countries charge higher taxes on imports than the United States does. There is widespread agreement that many American manufacturers couldn’t compete with an influx of cheap imports after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. In 2024, the U.S. trade deficit in goods and services came to a whopping $918 billion, the second-highest amount on record. Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro calls America’s trade deficits “the sum of all cheating’’ by other countries.
