US trade deficit drops 1.7% last year to $616.8 billion
Source: AP
By PAUL WISEMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. trade deficit fell for the first time in six years in 2019 as President Donald Trump hammered China with import taxes.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that the gap between what the United States sells and what it buys abroad fell 1.7% last year to $616.8 billion. U.S. exports fell 0.1% to $2.5 trillion. But imports fell more, slipping 0.4% to $3.1 trillion. Imports of crude oil plunged 19.3% to $126.6 billion.
The deficit in the trade of goods with China narrowed last year by 17.6% to $345.6 billion. Trump has imposed tariffs on $360 billion worth of Chinese imports in a battle over Beijing’s aggressive drive to challenge American technological dominance. The world’s two biggest economies reached an interim trade deal last month, and Trump dropped plans to extend the tariffs to another $160 billion in Chinese goods.
But goods trade gap with Mexico rose 26.2% last year to a record $101.8 billion. The goods deficit with the European Union also hit a record, $177.9 billion -- up 5.5% from 2018.
FILE - In this Friday, May 10, 2019 file photo, a container ship is unloaded at the Virginia International Gateway terminal in Norfolk, Va. U.S. factories expanded unexpectedly in January 2020, snapping a five-month losing streak. The Institute for Supply Management, an association of purchasing managers, said Monday, Feb. 3, 2020, that its manufacturing index rose to 50.9 in January, from 47.8 in December. Anything above 50 signals expansion. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
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