[Toddsterpatriot]

It'll also be good to correct our trade imbalances as foreign goods become more expensive

How has our trade balance with Europe changed since the dollar dropped over the last 5 years?

[PeterFinn]

A few things, China currently holds about $2 trillion in US debt - 350 billion of that is in Treasuries, approximately 210 billion of that is in munis, and the remaining balance is held as negotiable debt (meaning that they are one of the bankers who would be hurt by the US dollar dropping).

Europe is not as much of a concern to our trade imbalance as no one European country outside of the UK holds much of our debt. The two (trade & debt) are interlinked and China (while holding less of our debt than Japan does) poses more of a concern because unlike any other country in the world they have the trifecta of larger dollar holdings than the US government, they have the second largest accumulation of our debt, and they have a pure trade imbalance unlike Japan that returns a fair amount of their trade back to the US in the form of payroll and purchases.