No country can have an external deficit anymore except the United States

China, Japan, the core euro-zone countries and oil-exporting countries have savings surpluses and therefore structural external surpluses. The peripheral euro-zone countries have to contend with the disappearance of capital mobility between the euro-zone countries, which has forced them to eliminate their external deficits. Emerging countries (other than China and oil-exporting countries) have to contend with high variability in capital flows, which is forcing them to gradually eliminate their external deficits. Only the United States will therefore be able to retain an external deficit, which gives it a considerable advantage over the other countries.