US Trade

After the World War II, USA was the major world economy with a trade surplus as it imported raw material from various countries and exported finished goods

However, as its economy grew, the standard of living improved and wages =
paid to people increased, as a result of which manufacturing many products locally was no longer competitive. Though technology continued
to be developed in USA, most of the manufacturing was outsourced to low cost countries in East Asia like China, Thailand, Malaysia and Korea.

As a result of this, the country which earlier had a trade surplus,now has a trade deficit.