Lori Falce: Is a trade deficit a ripoff?

Things can be even and still be unfair.

For instance, Pennsylvania jurors receive $9 per day in compensation. That’s even. Everyone gets the same. But is it fair for someone who is unemployed or retired and is, in essence, getting a $9 bonus for participation versus a self-employed plumber who is losing hundreds of dollars in business for the same trial?

It’s all in how you look at it.

That’s what appears to be happening with President Donald Trump’s view of America’s place in world trade.

Trump repeatedly talks about other countries “ripping off” the United States. But is that what’s happening? Is America the victim of a global con job when it comes to buying and selling?

It is undeniable that there are certain ups and downs when it comes to trade. Overall, we import (about $3 trillion) more than we export (about $2 trillion), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

But does that mean we are being cheated?

Our largest trade imbalance is with China, which sells us about $280 billion more in goods than we buy. Except … does it? Many products that come to us from China are manufactured there by American companies. Apple phones, Dell computers, Nike shoes. Even American Girl Dolls and your Levi’s are made in China for U.S. corporations.

The same is true of Mexico, where many General Motors and Ford products are built; of Vietnam, where Ashley Furniture and North Face outerwear is made; and of Germany, where Goodyear tires are manufactured. And those are just the countries with our four largest trade deficits.

The issue with trade in the 21st century is that it cannot be measured on a scale, with Italian olive oil balanced on one side and American wheat on the other. It is more convoluted and symbiotic.

The American auto industry is interwoven throughout multiple countries, with rubber for tires produced in one country and powdered metals for windshield wiper components produced in Central Pennsylvania and more parts assembled in Mexico and Canada before being assembled in Michigan or Ohio.

The computer industry is likewise spread, with research happening in one place, design in another, manufacturing in a third and sales everywhere. How do you cut off one part of the circulation without bleeding the whole system?

Looking at trade as a deficit or surplus makes it a competition instead of a partnership and therefore sets nations up to be enemy combatants.

If we are getting what we want for a price we want and selling what we must, no one is being ripped off.

I spend money at the pizza place around the corner from my house on a regular basis. The owners have never bought anything from me. That doesn’t mean I have been cheated. It means I like the product, I like the price and we both get what we want from the relationship. It isn’t even, but it is fair.