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Here’s a letter to the Wall Street Journal:
You report that “Softbank Group Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said Tuesday he would invest $50 billion in the U.S. and create 50,000 new jobs, following a 45-minute private meeting with President-elect Donald Trump” (“SoftBank Pledges to Invest $50 Billion in U.S. After Meeting With Trump [2],” Dec. 6).
I wonder if Mr. Trump – who appears to be very proud of having brokered this deal – realizes that he has just arranged for an economic outcome of exactly the sort that he and his advisors repeatedly insist spells doom for the American economy – namely, a rise in the U.S. trade deficit, in this case to the tune of $50 billion!
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
And I wonder if Trump’s economic advisor Peter Navarro will take to the airwaves and the op-ed pages to criticize his boss for allegedly destroying American jobs.