Trading Partners

They can have any kind of system they want, as long as it's just like ours and we win.

   We hear a lot about the balance of trade and a supposed negative differential in payments. Oddly or ironically, the most noise comes from the free-market capitalism supporters of full competition. They're all for full and free competition -- provided, of course, that they win.
   Of the top ten countries that do the most business with the U.S., four are Asian, three are European, and the remaining three are in the Americas.
   Leading the list, however, is Canada. Government data show that our northern neighbor easily leads the pack, with the value of exports and imports totaling $515 billion through October. China is second, at $440 billion, Mexico is a close third, at $414 billion, and Japan and Germany rank fourth and fifth, at $181 billion and $130 billion, respectively.
   The remaining five trade below the $100 billion level. They are the UK, South Korea, Brazil, France and Taiwan.
   Over all, the U.S. imports more than it exports, according to the U.S. Census, which tracks the numbers. The ten countries listed account for 67.6 percent of imports and 62.4 percent of exports, or about two-thirds of all U.S. international trade.