US trade deficit recedes in Nov on falling imports
washington — The US trade deficit in November receded from a 10-year high in the prior month, as imports fell by more than exports, according to a Wednesday report that had been delayed by the government shutdown.
However, the trade gap is more than 10 per cent higher for the January-November period than it was in 2017, despite President Donald Trump’s aggressive policies that have imposed punitive tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in goods, and sparked retaliation from US trading partners.
While economists had expected the deficit to subtract from growth in the final quarter of 2018, the latest data changes the picture.
The deficit in November fell to $49.3 billion from $55.7 billion in October, the Commerce Department said in the data released that was postponed more than a month. That was well below the $54 billion economists had expected, and attributed in part to falling oil prices.
Imports fell by $7.9 billion due largely to big declines in consumer goods like cell phones and of industrial supplies like petroleum products. Exports declined $1.2 billion, due to declines in sales of industrial supplies and consumer goods, partially offset by a $1 billion jump in civilian aircraft, the data showed.
The deficit in goods trade with China fell to $35.4 billion from $38.2 billion in October, not sea-
sonally adjusted, almost entirely due to the drop in imports.
Washington and Beijing have exchanged steep tariffs on more than $360 billion in total twoway trade.