John Sarbanes: “The assumption is trade, by definition, is good; but the focus is all on exports and not on the balance of trade. This…”

“The assumption is trade, by definition, is good; but the focus is all on exports and not on the balance of trade. This is what has happened to our trade balance since 1975. You can see this incredible deterioration that has taken place. We are running negative trade deficits year in and year out. And the consequence of doing this, I say to my distinguished colleague, is this is what has happened to the American net foreign investment position. The United States, in 1980, was a creditor nation to the tune of about $400 billion. In other words, we had claims on others. We were a creditor nation. And now that has deteriorated so that the United States now, when we add in what the trade imbalance will be this year, will be about a $1 trillion debtor nation. We have gone from being the world's largest creditor nation to being the world's largest debtor nation.”