Merchandise Trade Deficit Falls to Three-Month Low: Decline in Imports Offset High Oil Bill
The merchandise trade deficit is the gap between what the US imports and what it exports. Exports are "free alongside ship." Imports include customs.</br></br>The U.S. merchandise trade deficit narrowed sharply in January to $9.49 billion, the smallest in three months, as a big decline in consumer imports offset a higher oil bill, the Commerce Department reported yesterday.</br></br>The department said the imbalance between imports and exports fell by 13.7 percent from a revised December deficit of $10.99 billion as the United States posted a rare trade surplus with Europe and the deficit with Japan fell to its lowest point in 1'h years.</br></br>The Bush administration hailed the development as an encouraging sign of progress in whittling down the countryÛªs huge trade deficit.</br></br>But many private economists were far less encouraged. Some called the January figure a one-month fluke in what they believe will