AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
According to information of the U.S. Bureau of Economic
Analysis (2019) international trade deficit in goods and services
increased to $45.7 billion in January 2018 from $44.7 billion in
December 2017 (revised), as exports decreased more than
imports. In terms of goods and services analysis following data
is available. Exports decreased to $176.5 billion in January 2017
from $180.3 billion in December 2016. Goods were $116.9
billion in January, down from $120.9 billion in December.
Services were $59.6 billion in January, up from $59.4 billion in
December. Imports decreased to $222.1 billion in January from
$225.0 billion in December. Goods were $180.6 billion in
January, down from $183.5 billion in December. Services were
$41.5 billion in January, up less than $0.1 billion from
December. For goods, the deficit was $63.7 billion in January,
up from $62.6 billion in December. For services, the surplus was
$18.0 billion in January 2018, up from $17.9 billion in
December 2017.
Figure 1. The U.S. Goods and services export and import
amounts development in December 2017 and January 2018
Source: own processing by The U.S. Bureau of Economic
Analysis (2019)
The United States is the world's largest trading nation. There is a
high amount of U.S. dollars in circulation all around the planet.
The dollar is also used as the standard unit of currency in
international markets for commodities such as gold and
petroleum (Ivanová, Masárová, 2018).
In 2017, U.S. exports amounted to $1.3 trillion and imports
amounted to $1.9 trillion. As the Office of the U.S. Trade
Representative (2019) states in 2017 the trade deficit was $634.9
billion. The deficit on petroleum products was $270 billion. The
trade deficit with China was $295 billion in 2017, a new record
and up from $304 million in 1983. The United States had a $168
billion surplus on trade in services, and $803 billion deficit on
trade in goods in 2017. China has expanded its foreign exchange
reserves, which included $1.6 trillion of U.S. securities as of
2018. In 2018, the ten largest trading partners of the U.S. were
Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom,
South Korea, France, Taiwan, and Brazil.
Before mapping the US external trade relations, the U.S. Trade
Representative institution (USTR) is to be discussed. The
growing importance of international trade led to the
establishment of the office of the U.S. trade representative in
1963, originally called The Office of the Special Representative
for Trade Negotiations. USTR is the U. S. government agency
responsible for developing and recommending United States
trade policy to the President of the United States, conducting
trade negotiations at bilateral and multilateral levels, and
coordinating trade policy within the government. The USTR has
offices in Geneva, Switzerland, and Brussels, Belgium. The U.S.
trade representative is the chief representative of the United
States for all activities concerning the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT), an international agreement
subscribed to by most nations, including negotiations on future
GATT tariff adjustments (De Castro et al., 2017). The Trade
representative negotiates with the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Trade
representative also serves as a member of the boards of directors
of the Export-Import Bank (which makes low-cost loans to
foreign purchasers) and the Overseas Private Investment
Corporation (which insures overseas private investments).
The United States has completed negotiations of a regional,
Asia-Pacific trade agreement, known as the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP) Agreement and is in negotiations of the
Transatlantic Trade and In-vestment Partnership (TTIP) with the
European Union, with the objective of shaping a high-standard,
broad-based regional pact. Zadrazilova, (2016) argues that the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is one of the most ambitious
free trade agreements ever signed. Lipkova and Hovorkova
(2018) state that the TPP writes the rules for global trade - rules
that will help increase Made-in-America exports, grow the
American economy, sup-port well-paying American jobs, and
strengthen the American middle class.
As a new issue the future creation of US – EU Free Trade
Agreement, called the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership (TTIP) is essential to be mentioned. During the first
round of the trade and in-vestment talks, which took place in
Washington D.C. in July 2013; negotiating groups set out
respective approaches and ambitions in some twenty areas
covered by the TTIP. According to Machkova and Sato (2017)
the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a
trade agreement that is presently being negotiated between the
European Union and the United States. It aims at removing trade
barriers in a wide range of economic sectors to make it easier to
buy and sell goods and services between the EU and the US. On
top of cutting tariffs across all sectors, the EU and the US want
to tackle barriers behind the customs border – such as
differences in technical regulations, standards and approval
procedures. Mura and Kljucnikov (2018) underline that these
often cost unnecessary time and money for companies who want
to sell their products on both markets. For example, when a car
is approved as safe in the EU, it has to undergo a new approval
procedure in the US even though the safety standards are similar
(Mynarzova, Stverkova, 2015). The TTIP negotiations will also
look at opening both markets for services, investment, and
public procurement. They could also shape global rules on
trade.
The important step towards the U.S. trade promotion agenda has
been done by the President’s Obama U.S. international trade
strategy. The main issues and their impact on the U.S. economy
and foreign trade relations will be observed.
A 12-nation Pacific trade deal cements President Donald
Trump's strategic pivot toward Asia and challenges China to
accept U.S.-backed rules for doing business. A trading bloc
stretching from Chile to Japan, with the United States at the
economic center, bolsters Trump's effort to counter growing
Chinese military and economic influence in the Pacific. More
than that, the deal means the U.S. now has closer trading
partners and closer friends in the region (Malec, Abrham, 2016).
That may force China to live up to the deal's standards or else be
cut from some of the resulting economic growth. If ratified, the
Trans-Pacific Partnership would be the largest pact governing
international commerce in more than two decades, encompassing
40 percent of the world's economic output. The deal would set
new precedents for breaking down subtle, politically entrenched
barriers to trade and would reinvigorate an expansion of global
commerce. The trade pact would eliminate more than 18,000
taxes on U.S. products and includes enforceable labor and
environmental standards (Fojtikova, Stanickova, 2017).
Exports are an increasingly important component of the U.S.
economy, and the global marketplace holds tremendous
opportunity for U.S. companies. Thus the export enhancement
agenda is a key element of the U.S. economy. Historically, U.S.
companies seeking to expand their revenues focused first on
increasing their number and share of U.S customers. For years,
this focus served as a winning strategy for many of the most
successful U.S. companies. Today, global economic trends make
clear that successful companies are those that reach and sell to
consumers outside U.S. borders and around the globe. As the
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