WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- A former International Trade Commission economist said the cost of the U.S. trade deficit included the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs.
Peter Morici, currently a professor at the University of Maryland School of Business, said Asian countries, most notably China, that suppress exchange rates of their currency against the dollar provide an unfair advantage for their manufacturers.
The $62.2 billion July deficit reported Thursday by the U.S. Commerce Department amounts to economic opportunity shipped abroad, Morici said in a statement.
"Simply, money spent on Middle East oil, Chinese televisions and coffee markers, Japanese and Korean cars can't be spent on U.S. made goods and services, unless offset by a comparable amount of exports," he said.
"Since U.S. imports exceed exports by more than 5 percent of GDP, the trade deficit creates an enormous drag on demand for U.S.-made goods and services. Along with the credit crisis and resulting slowdown in new housing and commercial construction, the trade deficit is driving up unemployment," he said.
Morici estimated balanced currencies would cut the deficit in half, increase the gross domestic product by $300 billion and restore 2 million U.S. manufacturing jobs
