The Real Trade Deficit Isn’t What You Think
Why the U.S. Must Lead Through Partnership—Not Protectionism
By Eduardo Joffroy G, CEO @ Joffroy Global
Author’s Note:
As a leader and partner of Joffroy Global, I’ve spent decades working at the intersection of US-Mexico crossborder trade, regional integrated supply chains and continuous evolution. I’ve seen firsthand how misguided narratives and short-term politics can undermine long-term opportunity. Here’s what I believe we’re missing.
America’s Strength Is Being Misunderstood
The United States is the most powerful and influential economy on Earth. But we are clinging to a 20th-century scoreboard: the trade deficit in goods.
Meanwhile, America runs a surplus in the areas that now define global leadership—intellectual property, digital services, cloud infrastructure, financial systems, education, culture, and trust.
Yet policymakers are ramping up tariffs, even against close allies, under the assumption that America is “losing.” That assumption is wrong—and dangerous.
The Real Score: Value, Not Volume
In 2023, the U.S. exported over $929 billion in services—from SaaS and streaming to fintech and intellectual property. These exports are high-margin, sticky, and deeply embedded in how the world runs.
What’s more, U.S. companies dominate global value chains. When Apple makes an iPhone in China, over 95% of the value flows back to U.S.-based operations. Trade in goods is not a loss—it’s an input to far greater strategic gains.
The true deficit is in our framing—not in our finances.
Tariffs Against Allies? That’s Self-Sabotage
Tariffs might make sense when targeting economic manipulation or unfair trade practices. But slapping duties on partners like Canada, Mexico, or Europe undermines our alliances, violates trust, and destabilizes supply chains we have built together based on mutual agreements.
Mexico and Canada aren’t adversaries. They are economic amplifiers—key nodes in a $33+ trillion North American system. Threatening this structure with protectionism is like cutting off oxygen to your own lungs.
We should be optimizing that system, not politicizing it. We never know when we might need it more than we think we do today.
The North American Opportunity
We don’t need to compete within North America. We need to compete as North America.
Shared standards. Shared investments. Shared institutions. If we align on rule of law, sustainability, and digital infrastructure, the U.S., Mexico, and Canada could become the world’s most powerful and resilient economic bloc.
But this vision requires trust, collaboration, vision and longterm planning and commitment. Mexico must modernize its institutions, commit to live in a transparent and fair democracy where we finally see the potential of Mexico’s economy and society. The U.S. must lead not with threats—but with intelligence, empathy, trust, strategic investment, and consistency.
Trade, Migration, and Human Dignity
Here’s a truth we don’t say enough: A prosperous Mexico is in America’s national interest.
Strong regional economies reduce migration pressure, improve supply chain stability, and boost consumption of U.S. services and goods. Tariffs work against that. Placing human dignity at the center of our conversations works for it.
Migration policy without trade vision is a Band-Aid. Trade policy without human strategy is a dead end.
A Call for a Better Playbook
America doesn’t win by retreating. It wins by understanding, collaborating and building. It wins when the world looks at us—not just as a market, but as a model of a great balance of free markets, fair and strong government and strategic collaboration with others.
The world is watching as the US works towards isolation and in a form that will not be forgotten; trust in its longterm commitments will be hard to recuperate. We must lead with principles that must be non-negotiable, or we can lose the narrative to those who don’t share them.
Let’s shift the conversation. Let’s stop chasing trade ghosts—and start building real partnerships, backed by strategy, vision, and truth.
If this resonates with you, share it. The more we challenge the narrative, the more leaders are forced to answer harder, smarter questions.
ceo@joffroy.group