Michael Pettis, Columnist

What's Really Driving the Trade Deficit With China

Hint: It's not cars or clothes or computers.

April 4, 2017 at 12:57 AM UTC

By Michael Pettis

Michael Pettis is a professor of finance at the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University in Beijing.

Exports aren't the issue.
Photographer: STR/AFP/Getty Images

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U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that discussions with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Florida this week will be "very difficult," in large part because of disagreements over trade. But before Trump can shrink America's lopsided trade deficits -- with China or anyone else -- he first must recognize what's driving them.

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