Quote:
Originally Posted by slapass
This not about trade. it is govt debt versus gdp. Brazil is 47% or so according to the CIA factbook.
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I know it's not trade, but it's where the debt problem lies. Western Europeans and Japan also have their national debt, especially Japan but it's by far the world's largest creditor while the US is by far the world's largest debtor.
http://www.reuters.com/article/econo...T2258720070524
"Japan's net external assets rose to a record high in 2006, government data showed on Friday, keeping it the world's largest creditor nation for the 16th straight year.
Japanese liabilities abroad stood at 343.024 trillion yen, up 5.4 percent from the year before, as foreigners increased their holdings of Japanese assets.
As a result, Japan's net external assets rose 19.0 percent to 215.081 trillion yen, growing for the first time in two years and exceeding a record high marked in 2004.
While some countries like China and several Middle East nations do not release comparable data, Japan's net external assets far exceed those of Germany, which were the world's second largest at 87.873 trillion yen at the end of 2006."