Trade Deficit Decline. Click to keep reading…

03 May Trade Deficit Decline. Click to keep reading…

The Commerce Department reported that the trade deficit fell in February to to $49.4 billion (3.4%), marking the lowest level since June, 2018. The goods deficit with China dropped 28.2% to $24.8 billion amid President Trump’s imposition of trade tariffs. The narrowing of the trade deficit contributes to GDP, so many economists upgraded their U.S. economic growth numbers after the trade numbers were released. While Trump threatens to impose tariffs on imported cars, U.S auto exports are on the rise.
“Auto-makers may have been trying to rush U.S- made units to their destinations just in case the Trump administration imposed tariffs on imported vehicles…and set off a tit-for-tat motor vehicle trade war.” remarked Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities.

For perspective – the balance of trade in the United States averaged $-14,692 million from 1950 until 2019, reaching an all time high of $1,946 million in June of 1975 and a record low of $-67,823 million in August of 2006.–Wiseman, P. (2019 April 19). U.S. trade deficit narrows to $49.4 billion in February including China. Rochester Business Journal, Vol. 35, No. 3, p. 27.