And this doesn’t even touch on the administration giving serious consideration to changing how re-exports are calculated. Currently, if a US firm imports a product that it immediately exports, unchanged, it counts at one import and one export. So, net exports (one part of the GDP formula) is left unchanged by netting the import against the export. The administration is reportedly considering not counting re-exports as exports, while still counting the import of said goods. Now, any Accounting 101 student could tell you the reason such a plan would produce misleading reports, but it plays well for the narrative that “globalists” are “raiding” America for profit. https://www.google.com/amp/www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/02/21/heres-how-trump-may-overhaul-us-trade-data--and-why-it-matters.html