It's fairly balanced now. The rise of fracking and the lower cost of oil has reduced imports from Mexico, Canada, and Saudi Arabia. Venezuela and Russia have fallen off the list entirely since 2012.
I don't see what population has to do with this question, 9 of the first 10 countries export more to US than they import and the populations differ enormously.
There are reasons for all of that Malbaby. But Canada and the United States are extremely similar in terms of culture, level of industrialization and development, scores on the HDI, number of college graduates, types of industries they have etc etc etc. So the fact that the United States has 1000% more people, and therefore obviously consumes far more than Canada does, means that Canadian goods have a higher demand in the US than American goods have in Canada. There is some balance in that the USA produces far more goods to export than Canada does... but without people in Canada to sell them to...
A crapload of business is done in the auto sector on the Detroit-Toronto corridor. Ontario alone was until recently a bigger trading partner than China or Japan.
Oh wow. You're one of those crazy people passing along links to the Zeitgeist Movement and Venus Project videos on YouTube? Is *that* how you got started down the rabbit hole toward complete detachment from reality? Or did it start with Communism and then drifted toward that on a tangent one day?
There are a ton of things made in Malaysia. Mostly electronics, clothing and jewelry. They also export a lot of oil, palm oil and rubber but I don't think those things go to the US so much.
I'm in Israel right now and am surprised at just how few American products you see on store shelves. There are Doritos and Pringles and candy bars; Pepsi/Coke of course, but very little else. Many of the things are locally produced. You see a lot more American stuff almost anywhere else.
Also, apart from McDonald's you see almost no American restaurants here, either, which is quite odd after coming from the Gulf where they are omnipresent. I've seen the odd Domino's and Pizza Hut, and just spotted a Subway at the bus station today. Most of the chains are also local.
Very good quiz. Only missed the southeast Asian trio of Malaysia, Taiwan, and Singapore. Kind of embarrasing though since I am doing a report on the region at the moment.
This quiz shows you just how unbalanced America's trade relationship is with most countries. Its a trend that will have to be corrected at some point. But I'm not implying malice. I think the most likely explanation for the gap is that it's relatively easy and incredibly lucrative to market products in the United States. There is no other market that is so big and few that are so open to competition.
Also the fact that the dollar is so strong relative to other currencies. It is a similar situation (now not so much with Brexit) in the UK. The Pound was worth way more than the it should be, so imports are cheap and exports are less competitive. It's also the reason why Germany is able to have such a massive export market compared to other countries in the Euro like Greece. Their currency is effectively devalued as they share it with weak economies with Greece, Italy and Spain.
In theory having a trade deficit can last forever, as long as you can keep on paying for it, through reducing your savings or selling your assets abroad. However this is not really sustainable. So eventually the dollar will fall in value, allowing American exports to be more competitive.
However that's not to say that having a strong currency isn't beneficial to the United States. Another of the reasons it is so strong is that the dollar is used so widely throughout the world. It is the main reserve currency for basically every country and most commodities are bought with it. This makes it easier for American's to trade with other countries. A company in Madagascar, for example, will find it very difficult to trade with another country with their currency. Nobody wants their money (I don't even know what it's called...) so the cost of currency transactions will be considerably higher. For American's literally anyone will accept their currency so the cost of trade is basically nothing.
Except that in 30 years' time we literally went from being the world's biggest creditor to being the world's biggest debtor. Just think about it: how can anyone get rich by buying a lot more than they sell?
Well quite clearly the U.S. has. Its gdp per capita has grown from 36,000 in 1990 (in today's prices) to about 52,000 today. Take your point that U.S. buys more than it sells. Obviously this isn't going to last for ever. But that isn't how you get rich. The whole global economy sells the exact same amount that it sells, unless there's a secret interplanetary economy I'm not aware of. Yet the global GDP has grown massively almost every year since the industrial revolution.
If you're a company in America who decides to move their factory from Ohio to China, you will create a trade deficit to the U.S., assuming you only sell to Americans. However you still own the goods being made in China, you still own the factory and all the primary goods needed to make your product. Except because your costs have fallen (the reason why you moved production to China) your profits have now increased. Profit is income, so you're now richer.
Basically you getting confused with mercantilism and capitalism. Mercantilism is the economic theory that was most common in colonial Europe. That in order to generate wealth you have to have a positive balance of trade. Why? Because there is a finite amount of wealth and capital in the world which remains the same every year. If you want to have a greater share of the global wealth you have to transfer it to your country through higher exports than imports. The US, among most of the world now follows capitalism. Where if you invest your disposable income then you can increase the amount of capital available. With more capital, you can make more stuff and therefore get richer, crucially without making anyone poorer. Trade deficits are now no longer the determinate of deciding which countries are most powerful, or rather least powerful.
Trade creates wealth--there are gains from trade, created by moving goods (and their inputs) to the people who value them more. As long as the US captures a significant portion of the wealth created through its exports and imports, it will become richer, regardless of which side of the transactions it's on.
Spain just doesn't trade with the U.S. as much as the other countries. There are two Koreas. To distinguish them, we call one North Korea and the other South Korea.
UAE (United Arab Emirates) is one of the biggest trade partners with the USA. Dubai city being one giant re-export hub. Suprised that its not mentioned.
Surprised that Singapore is the least guessed in this community. That was my third guess after Canada and China. Just knowing that so much trade flows through Singapore I thought it would be a more guessed answer.
Malaysia was unexpected. Probably the one on the list that most Americans could not locate on a world map.
The top import categories from Malaysia in 2020 were: electrical machinery ($26 billion), machinery ($5.4 billion), rubber ($2.8 billion), optical and medical instruments ($2.6 billion), and furniture and bedding ($2.0 billion).
Who hasn't dreamt of the day they could sleep in a Malay Mattress?
I'm a relatively new quizmaker and I'm making a quiz that has the same answer twice, but I only want the answer to count as 1/however many instead of 2/however many. Any advice that you've got?
In theory having a trade deficit can last forever, as long as you can keep on paying for it, through reducing your savings or selling your assets abroad. However this is not really sustainable. So eventually the dollar will fall in value, allowing American exports to be more competitive.
If you're a company in America who decides to move their factory from Ohio to China, you will create a trade deficit to the U.S., assuming you only sell to Americans. However you still own the goods being made in China, you still own the factory and all the primary goods needed to make your product. Except because your costs have fallen (the reason why you moved production to China) your profits have now increased. Profit is income, so you're now richer.
Great Quiz tho
The top import categories from Malaysia in 2020 were: electrical machinery ($26 billion), machinery ($5.4 billion), rubber ($2.8 billion), optical and medical instruments ($2.6 billion), and furniture and bedding ($2.0 billion).
Who hasn't dreamt of the day they could sleep in a Malay Mattress?
I'm a relatively new quizmaker and I'm making a quiz that has the same answer twice, but I only want the answer to count as 1/however many instead of 2/however many. Any advice that you've got?