President Trump’s keen concern for the US’s substantial trade deficit with the rest of the world played a key role in driving the US tariffs imposed last year, which have disrupted trade and upended the international rules-based trade system. In this episode we ask why is Trump so concerned by a trade deficit, how worried should a country be if it is importing more than it exports, what are the economics that underpin the international trade balance sheet, and how much does it matter? To discuss these questions, are Alasdair Smith (CITP / UKTPO / University of Sussex), Soumaya Keynes (Financial Times), Neil Shearing (Capital Economics) and our host Chris Horseman (Borderlex).