Facts are stubborn things when it comes to trade http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/

Perhaps the most peculiar claim is that the U.S. has trade surpluses with its "Free Trade Agreement" (FTA) partners, when in fact the data show we have a deficit. Vargo wrote, "over the past two years FTAs have resulted in a U.S. manufactured goods surplus of nearly $50 billion." The way Vargo comes up with this "surplus" is to include billions of "re-exports"

– those are foreign products passing through U.S. ports, but were not made by American workers. When the correct measure is used (the difference between "domestic exports" and "imports for consumption"), the opposite result is produced: the trade balance in non-oil, manufactured goods with U.S. FTA partners over 2008-2009 was a deficit of $97 billion.