How much of this is trade policy, ie politics, and how much is the changing tech economy? The US has the strongest corporate IP protections. How much of this shift is because the planet is spending less on physical items and more on IP? Software instead of hardware? Downloadable movie licenses rather than physical DVDs? That would mean Americans importing fewer physical goods and, conversely, non-Americans sending more money into the US in exchange for IP licenses?

Such changes look good at scale, but mean less to people on the ground. I'd rather see someone in the US get a job building something than iTunes sell more music overseas. The sale of IP doesn't trickle down to the shop floor as quickly as the sale of physical objects. It's an economic reality we have yet to properly address but one that can hide in such statistics.