The lower prices consumers pay for imported goods have a hidden cost. Higher prices on import goods is a fair cost for retaining and seeing jobs return to America. Several economists have come out recently pointing out that the first thing to suffer from Trump's economic policy will be low prices at Walmart (WMT) on all the things we import from countries like China and Mexico as well as close allies such as Japan and South Korea which we have subsidized for years.
Whether these economists are short sighted, so enamored with the thought of globalism, or simply echoing what they have been told are the benefits of free trade does not mean the positive effect is as large as they claim.
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It Is Time To Address Both Abusers And Imbalance |
President Obama's goal and policy to reduce the trade deficit by exporting more was pure folly and based on hope or delusion rather than business experience. It resulted in substantial damage to our budget that is reflected in America's national deficit. Our government had to spend money to pick up much of the slack caused by putting our heads in the sand and not taking real action to correct America's massive trade imbalance. As the chart shows China imports are the biggest part of our problem. This means American consumers are helping to finance the construction of China's war machine and a creeping loss of control over core strategic elements.
The truth is we should call a spade a spade and question how much we really gain when we find Americans can no longer get good paying jobs because they have been exchanged to other countries in order to lower the price of goods we buy. In many ways, this is akin to a deal with the