Reply #9: We have trade surpluses with 9 of the 10 countries with FTA's since 2004? Is that possible? [View All]

[pampango]

That doesn't include NAFTA's (long before 2004) partners, Canada and Mexico. I know we have a trade deficit with Canada (due to oil imports mostly) and I suspect the same is true for Mexico (probably for the same reason).

You seem to dismiss our trade surpluses with those 9 countries as due to their being "marginal developing economies". And yet our biggest deficits (non-FTA countries) you cited were Thailand and China, which would seem to fit the same definition. I thought our biggest trade problems were precisely with "developing economies" and their low wages and weak unions. Some of those 9 countries - Chile, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Peru and Singapore - would seem to be instances were we are successfully competing with those types of countries and economies.

Have FTA's with those countries "leveled the playing field" to an extent where we are able to successfully compete, while we have huge trade deficits with similar countries with whom we do not have FTA's? I don't trust this 9 out of 10 statistic coming from the Chamber of Commerce. There seems to be no way that can be true, since it seems to be an article of faith that we can't compete with countries like these without tariffs and some degree of protectionism.