In June, the US ran a $32.6 billion “trade in goods” deficit with China. That’s the difference between our imports from China ($42.3 billion) and our exports to China ($9.7 billion), according to the US Census Bureau.
That sounds terrible, but it’s really not if you look at the big picture.
Double-entry accounting includes flows of both goods and capital. The current account deficit (another name for the trade deficit) is simply the other side of a capital account surplus. The two always reconcile to zero—hence the name, “balance of payments.”
Nonetheless, the Trump administration doesn’t like trade deficits, so they must be reduced or eliminated. To do that, we need Chinese consumers to buy more “Made in the USA” products.
Problem is, China has little need for US-manufactured products, beyond the agricultural goods it already buys. They would buy certain things we refuse to sell them, like defense technology. What else can we send?
Here’s an idea President Trump should consider.
AP photo
China-Sized Liver Problems
Everything about China is big—including its health problems.
According to the World Health Organization, about 100 million Chinese have some form of chronic hepatitis. That’s one in 13 people.
Hepatitis can lead to liver cirrhosis and liver cancer, so this is a serious problem. Treating it requires serum albumin, a substance found in human blood plasma. As the Financial Times reported last week, Chinese patients consumed 300 metric tons of serum albumin in 2016, approximately half of the global total.
Now, while the necessary supply could be provided by the Chinese population, many of them are afraid to donate blood. The reason is a well-remembered 1990s health scare in which tens of thousands of farmers who had been paid to donate blood acquired HIV from unsanitary needles. The ensuing scandal was covered up by the government.
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