US Commerce Secretary Says Trade War Has Been Going on for Decades

The United States will no longer bow to the rest of the world on trade because President Donald Trump plans to act, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC on Friday.

“We are in a trade war. We have been for decades. The only difference is that our troops are finally coming to the rampart. We didn’t end up with a trade deficit accidentally,” he said, warning about the consequences of doing nothing.

Ross, a billionaire who made his fortune investing in distressed assets, argued on “Squawk Box” that the shortfalls are the result of bad trade deals and other countries actively seeking surpluses.

“Our trade deficit overall is about $500 billion a year,” Ross said. “Quite miraculously, that also equals the net trade surplus with the rest of the world.”

Despite what some critics say, Ross maintained that trade deficits — the disparity between imports and exports — matter. “If trade deficits are good, why is China so pleased that they run a huge trade surplus?” he asked. “It’s perfectly obvious that if China hadn’t been such a huge net-exporter it never would have grown at the rate that it did.”

via CNBC

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