IEV - Economic Forces Not Tariffs Drive Changes In Trade Balances
By Johannes Eugster, Economist, Multilateral Surveillance Division, IMF Research Department; Florence Jaumotte, Deputy Division Chief, IMF's Research Department; Margaux MacDonald, Economist, Research Department of the IMF; and Roberto Piazza, Economist, Multilateral Surveillance Division, IMF Research Department
New IMF research finds that macroeconomic factors, not tariffs, explain most of the changes in trade balances between two countries.
Bilateral trade balances (the difference in the value of exports and imports between two countries) have come under scrutiny recently. Some policymakers are concerned that their large and rising size are the result of uneven measures that distort international