All products produced by low-wage Asians, of course, also benefit from consuming oil produced in the Middle East (or from the drop in oil prices caused by production in the Middle East). Americans won because they got all the goods, while Asian workers lost because they spend all day producing products under harsh conditions but receive very little compensation. This is actually a trick that the United States has successfully played on its trading partners for decades. The U.S. somehow convinces countries with trade surpluses to invest in the U.S., keeping the dollar strong and allowing this favorable situation for the U.S. to continue. Remember, without the gold standard, trade deficits do not cause the U.S. to lose its precious gold reserves. The U.S. can have these deficits with almost no consequences. This perspective is almost completely opposite to Trump's view.