Nationalists Don’t Like Trade Surpluses Either

By Dominic Pino

Thursday, August 07, 2025

 

The U.S. has had a trade deficit for a long time, which nationalists hate. But it’s just as easy to make a nationalist case against trade surpluses, and if the U.S. had one, many of the same people could find other reasons to be upset about it.

 

I make the case in today’s Washington Post:

 

As it stands, nationalists already don’t like the trade surplus the U.S. does have. They demean jobs in finance and tech as unmanly and hold intangible products to be less vital than tangible ones, even though the U.S. services trade surplus is nearly $300 billion.

 

There are also many real-world examples of excessive exports coming under attack as the unpatriotic policy that prioritizes foreigners. In 2023, the government of Narendra Modi in India prohibited the export of most kinds of rice as a domestic political play to lower rice prices. Even before the ban, the Indian government was taxing rice exports at 20 percent, a kind of reverse tariff. Argentina has long taxed its beef and crop exports for similar reasons. In the U.S., almost all crude oil exports were banned for decades as a flag-waving declaration of “energy independence” from foreign suppliers.

 

But what if nationalists achieved their model economy, one led by exports of durable goods by durable men? I’m skeptical they’d enjoy it as much as they believe they would.

 

I go on to look at the examples of Germany, Japan, and South Korea. It all seems topsy-turvy because, as Adam Smith said, there’s nothing more absurd than the doctrine of the balance of trade.

 

You can read the whole thing here.