The U.S. international trade deficit in goods and services shrunk by almost $5 billion in September in part because of lower prices for imported oil. In September, the U.S. imported $187.5 worth of goods and services and exported $123.2 billion worth, resulting in a deficit of $64.3 billion, the U.S. Commerce Department reported on Nov. 9. In August, the U.S. trade deficit was a record $69 billion.
Again in September, the largest trade deficit the U.S. had with any other single country was with China. The deficit was $22.96 billion.
For the first nine months of 2006, the U.S. trade deficit with the rest of the world was $586.2 billion, some $64.3 billion more than the $521.9 billion deficit for the first nine months of 2005.
