Republican Presidential Candidate
Donald Trump, speaks during the final day of the Republican National Convention
in Cleveland, July 21, 2016. (AP)
Yanking
back international trade is a cornerstone of Donald Trump’s bid for the
presidency. He believes other countries benefit from our trade practices, while
the United States suffers.
The
trade deficit is how much more goods and services the United States imports
than it exports, Trump says it’s too high.
"Our
trade deficit in goods reached nearly — think of this, think of this — our
trade deficit is $800 billion last year alone," Trump said in July 21
remarks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. "We’re gonna
fix that."
Trump’s
phrasing is a little off, but he’s got the idea right. The
country’s overall trade deficit in 2015 was about $500 billion, according to Census
data, but that figure includes both
goods and services.
Trump
mentioned the trade deficit in goods, which includes all manufactured products,
oil and agriculture products. The trade
deficit in 2015 for just goods was
$763 billion. Not quite $800 billion, but reasonably close.
The
reason the overall trade deficit is smaller than just the goods trade deficit
is because the United States exports more services than it imports.
This
isn’t the highest the goods trade deficit has ever been. It ranged from $782
billion in 2005 to $832 billion in 2008.
It’s
possible, however, that current figures actually understate the size of the
goods trade deficit because oil prices have been abnormally low, said Robert
Scott, director of trade and manufacturing policy research at the Economic
Policy Institute, a think tank supported in part by unions. "It’s
a large deficit," Scott said. "And it needs to be reduced."
Our ruling
Trump
said, "Our trade deficit in goods reached nearly … $800 billion last year
alone." In 2015, the goods trade deficit was $763 billion. Trump is pretty
close. We rate Trump’s claim True.
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