in 1990 both japan and brazil ran large trade surpluses -- that is, each sold more goods to the rest of the world than it bought in return. japan's surplus of $56 billion brought complaints from many other countries that japan was gaining at their expense; brazil's surplus of $9 billion brought complaints from the brazilians that they were being unfairly treated. what does it mean when a country runs a trade surplus or a trade deficit? to make sense of these number it is essential to place them in the broader context of the whole of a nation's international transactions.