Skip to main content

Kaptur Statement on Record $891 Billion Trade Deficit

March 6, 2019

Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) released the following statement after the Commerce Department announced the United States posted an $891.2 billion trade deficit in 2018, the largest in our nation's 243-year history. The Commerce Department also announced the trade deficit with China hit a record $419 billion. Economists have agreed that the record trade deficit has been exacerbated by President Trump and the Republican Party's $1.5 trillion corporate tax cut, which was signed into law in 2017.

The announcement was made the same day General Motors shuttered its Chevy Cruze plant in Lordstown, Ohio, laying off 5,400 workers in the process. While the Cruze will continue to be a part of the Chevy lineup, the vehicle will continue to be manufactured in China, South Korea, Argentina, and Mexico.

"President Trump made a promise that manufacturing jobs would flow back into the industrial Midwest and wages would rise like never before," said Rep. Kaptur. "Instead, President Trump has not only failed to uphold that promise, his policies have directly led to an explosion in the national trade deficit, manufacturing plants shutting down, and wages literally getting cut in half."

"Clearly no one in President Trump's Administration has explained to him that bad trade deals, tariffs against our allies, and tax cuts for the wealthy lead to trade deficits, lost jobs, and reduced wages for average Americans. I would be glad to show President Trump around Northern Ohio so he can see firsthand how his trade policies wreak havoc upon working class communities."

kaptur.house.gov