oversimplification. The current account, a wider measure of the United States' worldwide economic participation, covers trade in products, services, and certain income movements. In 2019, US product exports totaled $1.65 trillion, while imports reached $2.52 trillion, resulting in an $864 billion goods trade deficit and a $287 billion services surplus on a balance of payments basis. This perspective on trade deficits is at the root of many of the political concerns about bilateral trade deficits in the United States, particularly with China, with which the US has by far the greatest bilateral trade deficit. Former President Donald Trump's campaign theme in 2016 was the deficit, and it was one of the main reasons he began a trade war with China after entering office. Trump stated that reducing the trade imbalance would boost the economy and generate employment in the United States. What causes it? A mismatch between a country's savings and investment rates causes a trade deficit. The US deficit, according to Harvard's Martin Feldstein, is driven by the fact that the US spends more money than it earns. As Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Zhiyao Lu of the Peterson Institute for International Economics point out, several variables influence the size of the trade deficit: If more government spending leads to a greater federal budget deficit, it lowers the national savings rate and raises the trade deficit. A rise in the overall amount of money borrowed from abroad by Americans is effectively funding a piece of the budget deficit. The exchange rate of the dollar is crucial because a stronger dollar lowers the cost of imported products for American consumers while boosting the cost of American exports for overseas buyers. A stronger US economy frequently results in a bigger deficit, since consumers have more mnnnvr I'n cnnnr' nn imnnrfnrl nrnrlnr'fc