Forget Trade Deficits: Go for Growth  By Daniel Griswold This
article originally appeared in the Financial Times, on February
25, 2005.  The recent London meeting of finance ministers from
the Group of Seven leading industrial countries focused
attention on the size and implications of the huge US current
account deficit, which reached a record Dollars 618bn in 2004,
according to figures released this month. In a report on the
global economy, the United Nations recently joined the chorus of
concerns, noting along the way that the vigorous US economy was
one of the main drivers behind the record trade deficit.  Strong
growth in the US has stoked demand for imports of not just
consumer goods but also the capital machinery, components and
raw materials needed by an expanding business sector. Meanwhile,
sluggish growth in western Europe and Japan has damped demand
for US exports.  The UN study acknowledges what has long been
true of the US economy: the trade deficit tends to expand along
with the economy and cont