US trade deficit in 2015 highest in 7 years, up 24% from 2014, US exports plunge. Trade imbalance will continue to be a drag on US economy-AP

2015 deficit highest level in 7 years. US exports drop 7.2%. U.S. trade deficit with Pacific rim countries in 2015 translated into 2 million U.S. jobs lost. 
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3/17/16, "US Current Account Trade Deficit Hits $484.1 Billion in 2015," AP, Martin Crutsinger, via ABC News

"The deficit in the broadest measure of U.S. trade declined slightly in the final three months of 2015, but for the entire year the deficit jumped to the highest level in seven years.

The deficit in the current account narrowed to $125.3 billion in the fourth quarter, down 3.6 percent from a deficit of $129.9 billion in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

The deficit for the entire year rose to $484.1 billion, up 24.3 percent from a 2014 imbalance of $389.5 billion. It was the biggest annual deficit since 2008 when the deficit totaled $690.8 billion.

The big deterioration reflected the struggles that U.S. companies are having as weakness in major economies overseas and a stronger dollar have sharply reduced export sales.

The current account is the broadest measure of U.S. trade because it covers not just trade in merchandise but also trade in services such as airline fares and legal fees and also covers investment flows between countries.

The rising trade deficit trimmed overall economic growth by 0.6 percentage point in 2015, a significant reduction for an economy that grew at a modest 2.4 percent last year, as measured by the gross domestic product.

Analysts say trade will act as a drag on growth this year as manufacturers and other exporters including farmers continue to struggle to sell their products abroad.

Trade deficits have become a major topic in this year's presidential race with Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders both contending that the country has been hurt by the failure of the U.S. government to negotiate trade deals that protect American jobs from being lost to other nations engaged in unfair trading practices.

The 2015 deficit was equal to 2.7 percent of total U.S. economic output, up from 2.2 percent of GDP in 2014.

The increase in the total deficit reflected a 2.4 percent rise in the deficit in merchandise. U.S. goods exports dropped by 7.2 percent, the first annual decline in goods exports since 2009, a year when the global economy was struggling to emerge from a deep recession."

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2 million U.S. jobs lost in 2015 via trade deficits: Economic Policy Institute report:

3/3/16, "Trans-Pacific Partnership, currency manipulation, trade, and jobs"

"U.S. trade deficit with the TPP countries cost 2 million jobs in 2015, with job losses in every state," Economic Policy Institute, by Robert E. Scott and Elizabeth Glass

"The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries lacks an absolutely key component to keep it from doing potential damage to the U.S. economy. The missing piece of this trade and investment deal is a set of restrictions and/or enforceable penalties against member countries that engage in currency manipulation. Currency manipulation is one of the key driving forces behind the high and rapidly rising U.S. trade deficit with the 11 other members of the TPP. In 2015, the U.S. deficit with TPP countries translated into 2 million U.S. jobs lost, more than half (1.1 million) of which were in manufacturing. Without such provisions against currency manipulation, the TPP could well follow other trade agreements and leave even greater U.S. trade deficits in its wake.

Currency manipulation occurs when a country artificially depresses the value of its currency. Currency manipulation acts like a subsidy to the exports of the manipulating country, and a tax on U.S. exports to every country where U.S. exports compete with the currency manipulator’s exports. In this way, currency manipulation increases U.S. imports, suppresses U.S. exports, and inflates U.S. trade deficits. As past EPI research has shown, currency-manipulation-fueled trade deficits have reduced U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), eliminated millions of U.S. jobs, driven down U.S. wages, and propelled the outsourcing of U.S. jobs to currency manipulators.

Many members of the proposed TPP, including Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan, are known currency manipulators. Others, namely Vietnam, appear to be following the lead of currency manipulators by, for example, acquiring excess foreign exchange reserves to depress the value of their currency. Currency manipulation explains a substantial share of the large, persistent U.S. trade deficit with the 11 other TPP countries that has not only cost millions of U.S. jobs but also increased income inequality and put downward pressure on American wages. We can’t afford a trade agreement that not only allows but would intensify these harmful trends:"...

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