Exports on the Rise, Trade Deficit Drops

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently announced that total exports for June 2013 increased to $191.2 billion from May’s revised total exports of $187.1 billion, an increase of $4.1 billion. On the imports side, the June total was $225.4 billion, down from $231.2 billion.

These changes resulted in a smaller overall trade deficit of $34.2 billion—a drop of nearly $10 billion from the May figure of $44.1 billion. Comparatively, the overall trade deficit is down from this time last year by $8.2 billion while exports were up 3.2%

For the three months ending in June 2013, exports averaged $188.6 billion, while imports of goods and services averaged $228.1 billion, resulting in an average trade deficit of $39.5 billion.

For the three months ending in January 2013, the average trade deficit was $43.6 billion, down notably from the same period one year ago when, in the three months ending in January 2012, the average trade deficit was $50.2.

Please click here for more details from BEA.