WASHINGTON (AP) – When President Donald Trump rages about unfair trading practices, he usually directs his ire at China and Mexico.
By comparison, Japan and Germany get off easy.
The focus on China is understandable: The U.S. trade deficit in goods with China ($347 billion last year) is five times bigger than any other.
The U.S. trade gap with Mexico ($63.2 billion), though, is smaller than the ones with Japan ($68.9 billion) and Germany ($64.9 billion).
Still, when it comes to Trump’s rhetoric, “the volume on Mexico is three times as high,” says Gary Hufbauer, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.