Nearly 2,000 years ago, Rome ran a trade deficit with India. Roman writers complained that vast amounts of gold were flowing east as wealthy Romans eagerly imported Indian spices, gemstones, silk, and other luxury goods, making it one of history’s earliest recorded concerns about a trade imbalance. “India takes 50 million sesterces from our Empire every year.” — Pliny the Elder, writing in Natural History, complained that Rome’s appetite for Indian luxury goods was draining the empire’s wealth. Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Roman Empire maintained a thriving maritime trade network with India through the Red Sea and across the Indian Ocean. After sailors learned to harness the seasonal monsoon winds, direct voyages became faster, safer, and more reliable, greatly expanding trade. Roman merchants imported black pepper, pearls, ivory, gemstones, fine cotton textiles, and other luxury goods from India, while exporting wine, glassware, coral, metals, and silverware. Because Roman exports did not match the value of these imports, merchants often paid the difference in gold and silver. Archaeologists have uncovered thousands of Roman coins, amphorae, and other artifacts at ancient trading sites across India, highlighting the scale of Indo-Roman commerce. Pliny’s complaint is one of the earliest surviving written criticisms of a persistent trade deficit and the outflow of precious metals to pay for imported luxury goods.