what increases a trade surplus 
a trade surplus rises when a country increasingly sells more to other countries than it buys from other countries this isn t always sustainable as growing demand tends to push the value of the currency up making it more expensive for foreign clients to keep buying the bottom linetrade surpluses are generally more popular than trade deficits protecting domestic industry has become a big theme of late among politicians and led in some cases to a series of trade wars and tariffs global tensions and a rise in nationalism have painted a picture of importers being losers however that s not necessarily the case especially when everyone is on good terms trade between countries and importing things when it makes sense financially can be seen as a positive in fact some of the strongest economies in the world are running a trade deficit implying that trade is not a zero sum game and that importing more than one exports isn t necessarily bad 2