What matters about the trade deficit with China: Weekend Edition

[Bloomberg]( [Trade Deficit With China Shows America’s Strength]( – Michael Schuman U.S. President Donald Trump has made closing America’s trade deficit with China a top priority. The problem is, it’s growing instead. For Trump, that’s probably more proof that his tariff-heavy, get-tough approach to China is the correct strategy. For economists, it’s not such a big deal. The U.S. economy is roaring, and roaring economies tend to import more. There’s another reason, too, why the trade balance is the wrong figure to focus on. It only captures one part of the greater economic relationship between the U.S. and China — and only as that relationship currently stands. Fixating on it distracts from what ultimately counts: U.S. corporate competitiveness and profitability. Since 1990, U.S. companies have invested almost twice as much in China — $256 billion — as Chinese companies have in the U.S. And a huge chunk of China’s investment has been made in only the past two years. To a certain extent, the trade deficit is thus a mark of how much more advanced U.S. corporations are compared to their Chinese counterparts. Read the [whole thing](. [Trump Reverts to Form in the Face of Pittsburgh’s Tragedy]( – Timothy L. O’Brien [Trump Makes the Case for a Democratic Congress]( – Michael R. Bloomberg [The Midterms of 2018 Aren’t So Earth-Shaking After All]( – Ramesh Ponnuru [Italy’s Economic Horror Show Starts Now]( – Ferdinando Giugliano [Brazil’s Bolsonaro Completes a U.S. Sweep of South America]( – James Stavridis [The Real Denmark Would Surprise Americans]( – Leonid Bershidsky [IBM and Red Hat Are Much Better Together]( – Shira Ovide [Trump’s Washington Hotel Has Great Sushi. So Why Was It Empty?]( – Tyler Cowen [Let’s Stop Rewarding Sexual Harassers]( – Kara Alaimo Saturday New Music Here are [seven new albums]( you can stream right now, including from Vince Staples, Kelly Moran and Pistol Annies. This is the Weekend Edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today, a roundup of the 10 most popular stories Bloomberg Opinion published this week, based on web readership, with some other stuff thrown in. New subscribers to the newsletter can [sign up here](. [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]( [Twitter Share]( SEND TO A FRIEND [Share with a friend] You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022