Global Current Account Balances Widen, Reversing Narrowing Trend

And for decades since then, the United States has had a current account deficit. It reached 3% of GDP in the mid-1980’s until the Plaza Accord purposely reduced the dollar’s strength, which helped fix the deficit briefly. Then it spiked to 6% of GDP but the self-correcting force of the subprime mortgage crisis reduced that back down a bit.