February saw the US trade gap fall to its lowest level in four months as Americans imported fewer goods while exports held steady, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
In its biggest monthly drop since September, the trade gap fell 9.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted $43.6 billion on falling imports of cars, consumer goods, fuel and semiconductors.
Analysts were expecting a decrease after the deficit ballooned in January, with revised figures putting it at the highest level since March of 2015, or $48.2 billion.
In the year to date, however, the deficit was still up 3.1 percent over the same period in 2016.
President Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House on an agenda of economic nationalism and revitalized manufacturing and industry has drawn a bright political spotlight onto the question of trade.
Trump has pledged to turn prevailing trade policy on its head, vowing to renegotiate or scrap trade deals, possibly reversing much of the trade liberalization of recent decades.
Overall US exports of goods rose 0.2 percent for the month to $192.9 billion, with exports of cars, auto parts and engines hitting their highest level since July 2014 and industrial supply exports rising to the highest point in 14 months.
But imports fell 1.8 percent to $236.4 billion, down $4.3 billion, driven in part by a $2.6 billion decrease in car imports.
The deficit with China gained $1.6 billion to $31.7 billion but fell $600 million with Japan to $4.9 billion. The deficit with Germany was the lowest in more than four years at $3.9 billion.
The deficit with Mexico rose 11.3 percent to $6.2 billion
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