Trump’s goal isn’t to boost aggregate demand, though. That’s just an intermediate metric he uses when it’s convenient to his true goal of autarky and domination. He views trade as a dom-sub relationship and nothing else.
I'm pretty sure his trade policy is just a form of mercantilism. Having a stockpile of money is a good thing for a person, so why not for a country? Except that it's even more silly than 18th century mercantilism, because he wants to keep paper/account balances in the country rather than gold or silver. I propose the term fiat-mercantilism or neo-mercantilism.
"In fact, America’s best-case scenario is that we can persuade the rest of the world to sell us infinite stuff in exchange for green pieces of paper that we print at near-zero cost."
Essentially turning the US into a natural resource exporter like Saudi Arabia, giving us Dutch Disease.
I think there's a very simple explanation. A thriving business has high market share. Lots of investors want to buy its stock. If an American business is doing lots of exports, it has relatively high global market share. If foreigners want to invest, that demonstrates optimism about the business. As a businessman it's natural to see things through this lens.
Replacing all of our industries with US dollar exports is like getting all of your calories from Oreos. Cheap, tasty, convenient, sure. Not good for your health in the long run though.
"I really don’t know how to translate textbook econ into Trump Thought. If you’re up to the task, please help me in the comments."
Trump’s goal isn’t to boost aggregate demand, though. That’s just an intermediate metric he uses when it’s convenient to his true goal of autarky and domination. He views trade as a dom-sub relationship and nothing else.
Sometimes his entire outlook on life seems to be their gain is our loss, and being the boss is all that counts.
I'm pretty sure his trade policy is just a form of mercantilism. Having a stockpile of money is a good thing for a person, so why not for a country? Except that it's even more silly than 18th century mercantilism, because he wants to keep paper/account balances in the country rather than gold or silver. I propose the term fiat-mercantilism or neo-mercantilism.
"In fact, America’s best-case scenario is that we can persuade the rest of the world to sell us infinite stuff in exchange for green pieces of paper that we print at near-zero cost."
Essentially turning the US into a natural resource exporter like Saudi Arabia, giving us Dutch Disease.
I think there's a very simple explanation. A thriving business has high market share. Lots of investors want to buy its stock. If an American business is doing lots of exports, it has relatively high global market share. If foreigners want to invest, that demonstrates optimism about the business. As a businessman it's natural to see things through this lens.
Replacing all of our industries with US dollar exports is like getting all of your calories from Oreos. Cheap, tasty, convenient, sure. Not good for your health in the long run though.
"I really don’t know how to translate textbook econ into Trump Thought. If you’re up to the task, please help me in the comments."
What does textbook econ say about fostering industries which can compete internationally? I found this book quite persuasive in arguing that tariffs can be helpful for this: https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Samaritans-Secret-History-Capitalism/dp/1596913991