Blogworld has plenty of good commentary on the November trade deficit news released today: Calculated Risk has the basics; Kash nicely breaks down the contribution of oil imports, as does Menzie Chinn (who contributes some nice pictures for perspective); Brad Setser provides his usual peerless (if pessimistic) analysis; The Skeptical Spectator informs us that European trade deficits are getting bigger -- except in Germany.
The views in MSM commentaryland were, let's say, mixed. From BusinessWeek online:
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, said if oil prices keep retreating and Japan and Europe continue to show a rebound in economic growth, the U.S. trade deficit may finally start to show sustained improvement.
"I am guardedly optimistic that we may be seeing the worst of our trade problems," he said.
Oh yeah? Well, take this (from Bloomberg):
"Higher oil prices and a strong dollar will push the trade deficit to new record highs, with the monthly trade deficit likely exceeding $75 billion by mid 2006,'' said Peter Morici, a professor of international business at the University of Maryland in College Park.
If you are longing for consistency, here's something you can count on, from BBC News:
... an industrial lobby group, the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, accused the Chinese government of "predatory trade practises" and currency manipulation.
The group's executive director, Auggie Tantillo, said the US government should impose hefty tariffs on imports from China - until Beijing agreed to float freely its currency, the yuan.