James Fallows Quotes

May our exports be so great, and our imports so small, that the balance of trade may be in our favor.

We have little of no inflation in manufacturing goods because more and more we buy products from abroad at very cheap prices.

Nearly every one of the foreign financial crises of recent decades has led to an increase in the U. S. trade deficit.

We are the greatest trading country in the world because we have the greatest exportation of the growth and product of our land and of the manufacture and labor of our people; and the greatest importation and consumption of the growth, product, and manufactures of other countries from abroad, of any nation in the world.

Wee must ever observe this rule; to sell more to strangers yearly than wee consume of theirs in value

We want to export our products but not our jobs.

Unemployment is due to the large import of goods from Britain and other countries. The Government haven't used the powers which they have for the benefit of the country.

Today, we have a trade regime which has led to the largest trade deficits this country has ever experienced.

America is becoming more and more dependent upon imports from foreign manufacturers than we are exports from our country in all fields: in appliances, in clothing, even food. This year America may become for the first time in its history a net food importer.

A trade war is a conflict in which each side uses most of its ammunition to shoot itself in the foot.

Countries trade with one another for the same reasons that individuals, businesses, and regions do: to exploit their comparative advantages.

China must voluntarily cut back on exports to America otherwise American politics will become unmanageable.

One by one, trade and investment barriers will continue to be swept away by globalization, like leaves on an autumn day…The new challenge will be less to regulate relations among national economies, than to establish the rules and structures of a transnational economy.

The popular notion is that imports are bad and exports are good.

Let’s export American products, not American jobs.

It will be found, that as some particular Men in a Town grow richer, and thrive better than others; so also do Nations, who by Trade serving the occasions of their Neighbors, supply themselves with what they have occasion for from abroad; which done, the rest is laid up, and is Silver, Gold, etc. for as I said, these being commutable for everything, and of small bulk, are still preferr'd to be laid up, till occasion shall call them out to supply other Necessaries wanted.

Trade never balances. It hasn’t since 1776.

The largest annual U.S. trade deficits since 1980 have been accompanied by the largest annual job-creation numbers in recent memory. The reason is simple: stronger economies tend to have stronger currencies, and the increased economic activities in these stronger economies and exchange-rate differentials lead inevitably to trade deficits

We have quit discussing the tariff, and have turned our attention to getting trade wherever it can be found.

Free trade is good for all countries but not necessarily good for all peoples in all countries.

Mexican exports worldwide benefit the U.S. economy because of their high percentage of U. S. content.

The benefits of trade diffuse across the economy, but the cost of trade are concentrated.

Manufacturing value chains are global. Many U.S.-made goods have foreign components. Slapping on tariffs will raise prices and slow imports, but it will make us poorer and impede growth.

That level of trade deficit throttles real growth in our country and continues the unfortunate path of selling out America. We are not winning the global trade war, we are losing it badly.

All those trucks and barges that carry our goods to port are vital connections to the only force which can balance our trade deficit: export. We must keep doing what we do best if we are going to get America out of the red.