The current account balance represents how much a country’s economy earns from or pays to the rest of the world in a given year. A current account deficit means a country pays foreigners more than it earns from them, making it a net debtor. A surplus means the opposite. For most countries, including the United States, the dominant component of the current account is the trade balance: the difference between imports and exports of goods and services.
~ Michael Starr via American Affairs

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