WASHINGTON – The nation’s imports of goods and services exceeded exports in February by $58.4 billion, a decline of 3.8 percent from January’s revised $58.9 billion trade deficit, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported today.
Purchases from China fell to the lowest level since May, Bloomberg News noted, helping shrink the nation’s trade deficit with China to $18.4 billion from January’s $21.3 billion.
Total U.S. exports declined $2.8 billion or 2.2 percent in February to $124.0 billion, after rising 1.1 percent in January to a record $126.8 billion. Declines in exports of capital goods, industrial supplies, consumer goods and other goods were partly offset by increases in automotive parts and vehicles.
Total imports declined $3.2 billion or 1.7 percent to $182.4 billion, after falling 0.5 percent in January to $185.7 billion. Decreases in imports of industrial supplies, capital goods and auto parts and vehicles were partially offset by increases in imports of consumer goods and private services.
Compared with February 2006, the trade deficit declined $4.5 billion or 7.2 percent, exports increased $10.5 billion or 9.3 percent, and imports grew $6.1 billion or 3.4 percent.
A lower trade deficit may be the silver lining of slower U.S. growth and the expanding economies of Europe and Japan, economists told Bloomberg, but high oil prices will slow the anticipated narrowing of the trade gap.
“The trade deficit probably won’t be the drag on growth that it was in 2005 and 2006,” Jay Bryson, global economist for Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, N.C., told Bloomberg. “Capital spending and consumer spending in the U.S. are slowing, and I think we’ll see the trade deficit stabilizing.”
Additional information can be found at www.bea.gov/news.
