President Trump keeps raising the stakes in his tense standoff for a fairer trade relationship with China, but he’s backed down for now in his assault on Europe. here’s why.
President Trump keeps raising the stakes in his standoff with China over trade, but he’s backed down, for now, in his assault on Europe. What gives?
The answer is simple: Europe — along with Canada — is still more vital to the well-being of the U. S. economy, despite the growing importance of China in global affairs.
The value of American-made goods shipped to Europe is more than twice as high as the value of goods sent is to China, and the U. S. runs a much smaller trade deficit with its European trading partners. What’s more, investment on both sides of the Atlantic is enormous.
The government’s latest figures on investment reinforce just how close the relationship is.
In 2017, U. S. investment abroad totaled some $6 trillion, with almost 60% of it in Europe, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
American companies also earned nearly a half billion dollars last year on their foreign investments.
The rest of the world, meanwhile, had about $4 trillion invested in the U. S., but once again it’s Europe at the forefront.
Germany invests about three times as much in the U. S. as the U. S. does in Germany. The same is true of France.
Canada, for its part, had about $524 billion in investments in the U. S. at the end of 2017. That’s about 13% of all foreign investment.
