Is The U.S. Economy A Success Story?

Hamish McRae, The Independent: Regardless of Trump’s policies on trade, the US economy is a success story and the statistics prove it

You can have a debate about trade policy, but you can’t deny that the American boom has legs. We got a feeling for that on Friday. Start with jobs.

Another week of trade turmoil. Following the imposition of US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Canada and the EU during the week and a disagreeable G7 finance ministers’ meeting in Whistler, Canada, on Friday, the focus shifts to China. US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross arrived on Saturday in Beijing to see what China is prepared to do to cut the surplus from $375bn (£281bn) last year to … well, who knows, but a target of $200bn has been mentioned. The threat if China does not do what the administration wants is a 25 per cent tariff on China’s high-tech US exports.

Leave aside whether the US is justified in its attempt to narrow trade imbalances such as the one with China or indeed with the EU and leave aside too whether it is going the right way about it. Focus on something else. The US economy is a huge success story. You can have a debate about trade policy, but you can’t deny that the American boom has legs. We got a feeling for that on Friday. Start with jobs.

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WNU Editor: Too early to say where the U.S. economy is heading .... but I can easily see good growth continuing for 2 to 3 more years .... trade war or no trade war. In regards to the trade war. The tariffs that President Trump had implemented bears no resemblance to the tariffs of the 1930s. And as for these U.S. tariffs .... they are more focused on forcing other countries to life their barriers to U.S. products. I know where I live in Canada we have a dairy system that is protected from U.S. exports .... a system that the U.S. has been demanding for years to be removed.