Why Does the U.S. Always Run a Trade Deficit?

Re:Why Does the U.S. Always Run a Trade Deficit? by fakedang on Wednesday May 21, 2025 @08:09AM (#44050596)

Command economies hell-bent on economic dominance are not going to engage. The only way to limit Chinese super production is to either block their goods outright or to subsidize your own to out-price theirs locally.

A lot of people don't understand the CCP mentality clearly. China was once the epicenter of human production, making things the rest of the world desired, from Chinaware to silk to tea. The rest of the world fought wars and crossed oceans to obtain exclusive rights to those goods, while the Chinese dynasties simply sat on their thrones and levied tributes from every farflung nation. The CCP wants to return China to THAT level of dominance, this time with tech, electronics and an addiction to rare raw materials.

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Re:Why Does the U.S. Always Run a Trade Deficit? by coliveira on Wednesday May 21, 2025 @11:32PM (#44058517)

> sat on their thrones and levied tributes from every farflung nation

You mean, like the US is now doing?

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Re:Why Does the U.S. Always Run a Trade Deficit? by fakedang on Thursday May 22, 2025 @10:39AM (#44062536)

Nope. Would have been the case if the US imposed usage taxes on foreign users of its goods and services, like tech products and cloud services, but that's not what's happening.

The Chinese tributes were more like payments for the right to trade those goods (which were separate from the cost of goods itself). That's why when the European traders arrived in China, the Emperor simply thought that they were another tributary state seeking protection and trade rights.

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Re:Why Does the U.S. Always Run a Trade Deficit? by coliveira on Thursday May 22, 2025 @11:48AM (#44063221)

The US is imposing terms on foreign countries for use of its goods, that's what the chips restrictions are all about.

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