During an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Tuesday, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) strongly challenged the idea that America is being taken advantage of in international trade deals simply because it runs a trade deficit. He argued that the entire premise is flawed and reflects a misunderstanding of how trade works.
“I mean, the whole debate is so fundamentally backwards and upside down. It’s based on a fallacy, and the fallacy is this, that somehow, in a trade, someone must lose. That somehow, when you trade with someone, there’s a loser and someone’s taking advantage of you, and China is ripping you off, or Japan is ripping you off. It’s absolutely a fallacy. Every trade that occurs in the marketplace is mutually beneficial,” Paul said.
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