Is U.S. a victim in global trade?

Since taking office in January, U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly wielded the "tariff stick," and implemented radical tariff policies. The U.S. government portrayed itself as a victim in global trade, claiming that the U.S. suffered deep losses by running large trade deficits with other countries.

However, World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in her article titled "America's Big Trade Win," pointed out that the U.S. in reality is "a clear winner" in global trade as the country runs a services trade surplus with most major economies while generating 80 percent of its GDP and employment from the services sector.

The United States is the largest services exporter in the world. According to the article, in 2023, U.S. services exports were worth more than $1 trillion, accounting for 13 percent of the global total and the U.S. runs a services trade surplus with most major economies, with the surplus totaling nearly $300 billion in 2024.

Particularly notable is the U.S. near-monopoly in high-value-added services. Last year, U.S. companies received more than $144 billion in intellectual-property royalties and licensing fees, far surpassing other countries, said the article.

American workers are also benefiting from this robust trade. In 2022, U.S. services exports directly created 4.1 million jobs, according to the U.S. International Trade Administration, while around half of the 5.1 million jobs supported by manufacturing exports are actually related to services, it said.

The article also noted that WTO economists estimate that by 2040, digitalization will boost the share of services in global trade to 37.2 percent. Digital services have become the fastest-growing sector in global trade, with their value expanding fourfold from 2005 to 2023, reaching $4.25 trillion, of which the U.S. claims over 15 percent.

Data proves the Trump administration's claim that Americans are being "ripped off" by foreign countries solely based on the U.S. deficit in traded goods doesn't hold water.

Who will hurt the most?

In an interview with China Media Group(CMG) Victor De Decker, research fellow at the Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations in Brussels said that the huge tariffs imposed by the U.S. will ultimately hurt the American people, and the various excuses claimed by the U.S. government are unscientific and untenable.

The Trump's administration said the aim of imposing tariffs on global trading partners is to stimulate a return of manufacturing to the U.S. While De Decker said that this shows that the U.S. government lacks the most basic judgment on the process of global integration. In today's advanced global supply chain, promoting the return of manufacturing can not be achieved overnight, he added.

These tariffs will ultimately hurt American people, De Decker said. The idea of banking on tariffs to force companies to move manufacturing capacity back to the U.S. is an oversimplified understanding of supply chains, he pointed out.

Today's supply chains are so complex that goods aren't just imported in their finished state, but many times they also need to be imported in their unfinished state and then finally assembled in the United States. If tariffs are raised, and the cost of importing unfinished products goes up, it will be more difficult for manufacturers to produce in the U.S., he explained.

It is a completely contrived notion that America's huge trade deficit poses a threat to national security and the idea that trade deficit can be reduced unilaterally by imposing tariffs is also outdated, the expert added.