From: utzoo!utcsrgv!pfps Newsgroups: can.general Title: Re: Isn't a huge trade surplus good for something? Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.1062 Posted: Fri Feb 18 09:38:49 1983 Received: Fri Feb 18 09:48:34 1983 References: utcsrgv.1060 Canada's recent huge trade surplus is good but not very good. The reason for the surplus is that Canada's imports have decreased dramatically (indicating a sick economy here) while exports have decreased but not nearly as much (in this case, not indicating that economies in other countries are not as sick as here). Another problem with Canada's trade surplus is that our exports are mostly raw materials (such as wheat, minerals, etc.). I am willing to bet that Canada's exports of manufactured goods are down just as much as our imports are. To see why we can have high unemployment while keeping up on our exports just look at Inco's case. As you know Inco has a lot of people laid off. However, it is still exporting (although not as much as before) because it has a huge stockpile of exportable material available.