US trade deficit shrinks in 2009; widens to $40 billion in December
11 Feb 2010
The US international trade deficit in goods and services decreased to $380.7 billion in 2009 from $695.9 billion in 2008, the commerce department reported yesterday.
Exports decreased $273.5 billion to $1,553.1 billion in 2009, while imports decreased $588.8 billion to $1,933.7 billion in 2009.
This is the narrowest year in trade deficit in the past five years with peak deficit of about $760.3 billion in 2006.
Trade deficit measures how much more a country imports than exports.
As a percentage of US gross domestic product, the goods and services deficit was 2.7 per cent in 2009, down from 4.8 per cent in 2008.
However, for December, the trade deficit widened to $40.2 billion from $36.4 billion (revised) in November.