Balance of trade

The balance of trade (or net exports, sometimes symbolized as NX) is the difference between the monetary value of exports and of output in an economy over a certain period. It is the relationship between a nation's imports and exports.A favourable balance of trade is known as a trade surplus and consists of exporting more than is imported; an unfavourable balance of trade is known as a trade deficit or, informally, a trade gap. The balance of trade is sometimes divided into a goods and a services balance.
Primitive understanding of the functioning of balance of trade informed the economic policies of Early Modern Europe that are grouped under the heading mercantilism. An early statement appeared in Discourse of the Common Weal of this Realm of England, 1549: "We must always take heed that we buy no more from strangers than we sell them, for so should we impoverish ourselves and enrich them

Contents
1 Definition
2 Views on economic impact
2.1 Conditions where trade deficits may be considered harmful
2.2 Conditions where trade imbalances may not be harmful
3 Milton Friedman on trade deficits
4 Warren Buffett on trade deficits
5 John Maynard Keynes on the balance of trade
6 Physical balance of trade
7 United States trade deficit