NAFTA talks begin this week. Just to set the stage, here’s a history of US trade deficits with Canada and Mexico for the past 15 years:
Our trade deficit with Canada is pretty much all oil. When you look at the trade deficit ex energy, it’s actually positive: we export more to Canada than we import.
In the case of Mexico, we import practically no oil anymore, so excluding energy makes little difference. In 2016, the trade deficit ex energy reached $70.8 billion.
