for once
put simply, the yanks have long been the world's biggest economy, pioneers of free trade and spend more than they produce.
trump reckons it's unfair. he thinks the trade deals the americans struck led to production moving overseas and that's hindering economic growth in the us. but economic consensus suggests otherwise. foreign trade barriers don't help them, but trade imbalances are affected by a lot more than just the goods and services that are exchanged in each direction - you've also got to consider individual countries' currency value and their grwoth rates., how much businesses and households invest and save etc etc
even if, as an american, you think the trade gap should be reduced, imposing tariffs hasn't been an effective way to fix the problem over the years - trade deficits can widen during trade wars. a trade war could massively affect job creation and the cost of living in the US. i'm most concerned by trump's trade move leading to the rise of global protectionism - it could have massive implications for the global economy. i'm no economist either but it seems like an incredibly high risk strategy.