Feminist News
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8 hours ago
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The degree from Wharton has really paid off.
This isn’t the first time Trump’s made this argument.
On September 4 in the Oval Office the version was longer: "We lose with Mexico $195 billion a year. If I don't trade with Mexico, they have nothing that we have to have. I mean, hot tamales? Tomatoes?"
Wrong. And also racist.
Here's what a trade deficit is: the difference between what Americans bought from a country and what that country bought from us.
It's not a bill. It's a receipt.
The $195 billion "lost" to Mexico is cars, engines, produce, and the parts that keep Texas factories running — things Americans paid for because they wanted and/or needed them.
Ending trade means not having the goods. I can’t believe I have to write that out.
That's the whole lesson, and it's one he's been failing since 2019, when he told TIME "we were losing $2 trillion a year on trade."
Here’s why he's saying it now: the trade deficit hit $88.6 billion in July, the highest since March 2025, and he's using embargo threats to pressure the Fed into a rate cut — "LOWER THE RATE OR I'LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT."
The Supreme Court struck down his emergency tariffs in February. So Plan B is simploy not buying things.
He also put a 50% tariff on Brazil last year citing "unsustainable Trade Deficits" — with a country the U.S. has run a surplus with since 2007.
It's very simple. The president is an idiot.
