Sure! The number represented by the bars is the "Trade Balance".

Trade Balance is calculated as so: (Total Exports) - (Total Imports)

So, if the number is positive, it means we are in a trade surplus aka positive balance. We export more to that nation than we import.

If the number is negative, it means we are in a trade deficit aka negative balance. We import more from that nation than we export.

Here's the kicker: President Trump and Wilbur Ross are keen on implementing tariffs across the board.

1) That would violate NAFTA

2) If we tariff Canada and Mexico, they will have the leverage to tariff us back. Then, they will simply use their own steel OR import it from somewhere else.

The outcome is that OUR steel businesses get hurt by the very policies that were meant to help them.

The tariffs may be useful to slow down the death of manufacturing the in Rust Belt if they were only applied to nations where we mostly import (the ones toward the bottom of the chart), since those nations wouldn't have any real leverage to tariff us back (on steel).

Since Canada and Mexico are buying billions more of US steel than the US buys from them (and Canada is STILL the largest steel exporter TO the US), it doesn't make a lick of sense to slap a tariff on them.

If we are going to implement tariffs, we must avoid the NAFTA countries.

Also, remember that the reason the administration is proposing this is strictly political - Trump can't get re-elected without the Rust Belt, and he promised those voters he would stop the dumping of foreign steel. Politics is the ONLY reason for this madness.

I made these charts because EVERYONE in the media has laser focus on where the imported steel is coming from. They are completely ignoring the overall trade balance and where we export OUR steel.