“When the dust settles, Tesla may be a Chinese company. Tencent is the latest big investor.”

This is something people don’t understand about the trade deficit. Most people think the trade deficit means that China sends the US way more stuff than the US sends to China.

That is not true. Of course China doesn’t send stuff without asking for things in return. China sends stuff and then has the right to buy pieces of American companies and future cash flows of those companies (and government entities).

The US is getting a bunch of stuff and giving away little pieces of it’s future. This is just a visible example