NPR.
This is the Indicator from Planet Money, I'm Whelan Wong.
And I'm Darian Woods.
And I'm Adrian Ma.
At the core of President Trump's earth-shaking tariffs is a belief that countries should not sell stuff to the U.S. without buying more stuff in return.
In other words, Trump hates that the U.S. has trade deficits.
Yeah, for the big tariff announcement last week,
the administration actually used the U.S. trade deficits with each country to figure out the size of their new tariffs.
And when we talk about the trade deficit,
it might conjure up images of closing car factories and American workers losing their jobs.
But the reality is more complex.
In fact, the trade deficit on its own isn't necessarily the boogie man that Trump claims.
Today on the show, why the trade deficit is neither good nor bad.
Today, we're going to talk about three reasons why we shouldn't worry so much about the trade deficit.
First up, Adrian Ma, take us away.
So for Trump, any trade deficit that the U.S. has with another country is a problem.
His big tariff policy announcement last week essentially aims to eliminate trade deficits.
But let's just do a quick thought exercise, right?
If you're listening to this show, I would bet that you're the kind of person that eats food.
Am I right?