Trade Deficit halts First Quarter GDP Growth

The trade deficit caused first quarter US GDP growth to be basically zero – specifically 0.2%. Exports were down 7.2% while imports were up 1.8%. The Bureau of Economic Analysis news release says: The increase in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE) and private inventory investment…

Stiglitz: Net Job Destruction from Trade Deals

In a March 2015 speech, former Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says that trade agreements, on net, have destroyed jobs. He says that economists increasingly agree that exports create jobs and imports destroy jobs.  The question is what NET result, which of course has been negative. Export opportunities are fine if you can access…