The U.S. trade deficit fell in November as imports of goods posted the largest decline in almost a decade, the Commerce Department said Friday.
The department said the 1.7 percent drop marked the first back-to-back declines in more than
three years, since a three-month improvement from May through July
1997. The October figure dropped 0.6 percent.
However, even with the two small declines, the trade deficit
remained close to its record high of $33.7 billion set in
September. With just one month to go, the deficit for all of 2000
was on track to hit $366 billion, more than $100 billion over the
previous record of $265 billion set in 1999.
Many economists are predicting a slow improvement in the trade
picture in 2001 as weaker U.S. economic growth translates into
falling demand for imported goods. There is also hope that foreign
economic growth will pick up and boost U.S. exports and that the
price of oil, a big part of the import bill, will stabilize.
U.S. imports declined 1.1 percent to $123.3 billion, a drop of
$1.33 billion, with $981 million of that improvement coming from an
11.8 percent decline in crude oil imports. Both the volume and
price of oil fell.
Imports of autos and auto products fell by $179 million to $16.6
billion as the sharp slowdown that has hurt domestic automakers had
an impact on foreign manufacturers as well.
Demand for capital goods such as telecommunications equipment,
computers and industrial machinery dropped by $785 million. That
reflected the slowdown in business investment that has occurred as
the economy has braked from a supercharged rate to levels that have
some forecasters worried about a possible recession.
For November, the U.S. deficit with China dropped by 16.2
percent to $7.6 billion while the imbalance with Japan was down an
even bigger 19.8 percent to $6.8 billion. For the year, America's
trade gap with China is set to surpass the deficit with Japan, the
perennial leader in this category.
America's deficit with Canada set a record in November of $4.7
billion, up 3 percent from the October level. The deficit with
Mexico, the other partner in the North American Free Trade
Agreement, narrowed by 16.3 percent to $2 billion.
U.S. exports of goods and services dropped by 0.8 percent to
$90.4 billion as sales of computer products, autos and farm
products, including soybeans and corn, all declined.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report
