I found this interesting article by the New York Times about trade deficits, and specifically the trade deficit that the USA has with the rest of the world. The bottom line : it’s complicated, and not clear at all that cutting the trade deficit is an option, or that cutting it will help American workers. (And the banana? The writer uses trade between the countries Bananaland and Carnation to illustrate the consequences of trading and trade deficits between two countries and the world at large).