The U.S. Census Bureau reported November 4 that the U.S. monthly trade deficit fell by 4.7% to $63.9 billion in September. Imports and exports both increased in September.
The United States increased the amount both of goods and services it bought and sold abroad during the month. It exported $176.4 billion in goods and exported $240.2 billion in September, an increase of $4.4 billion and $1.2 billion from August, respectively. The September 2020 trade gap was 8.6% higher than it was last year.
Imports of auto vehicles and parts increased by $3.2 billion, with passenger cars accounting for $2.4 billion of that. Capital goods imports increased $800 million. At the same time, imports of consumer goods dropped $2.4 billion while industrial supplies and materials imports fell $1.3 billion. Imports of finished metal shapes, an industrial supply, decreased by $1.4 billion.
The United States’ trade deficit with China remains its highest deficit with other nations. The U.S.-China trade deficit decreased $2.1 billion to $24.3 billion in September as exports rose by $0.8 billion to $12.0 billion and imports fell $1.3 billion to $36.4 billion.
The second largest trade gap the U.S. maintains is with the European Union. That deficit grew by $1.6 billion $1.6 billion to $17.3 billion as exports fell by less than a billion dollars to $19.6 billion and imports grew $1.9 billion to $36.9 billion.
The United States also maintained a trade gap with Mexico of $10.7 billion, as well as with Japan ($5.6 billion), Germany ($5.6 billion), Italy ($2.7 billion), Taiwan ($2.7), India ($2.7), South Korea ($2.2 billion), Canada ($1.4 billion), and France ($1.1 billion).
The trade surplus the United States currently enjoys in South and Central America rose slightly in September to $2.5 billion. The U.S. also maintains trade surpluses of $1.4 billion with OPEC, $1.3 billion with Hong Kong, $1.1 billion with Brazil, $0.8 billion with the United Kingdom, $0.3 billion with Singapore, and $0.2 billion with Saudi Arabia.
September’s figures are an improvement on August, when the Census Bureau reported that the U.S. trade deficit had reached $67.1 billion after a 5.9% increase brought it to levels not seen since 2006.
