The U.S. goods trade deficit narrows in April as a rise in exports offsets an increase in imports, according to data from the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau. The deficit in goods falls 3.4% to $82.4 billion in April, compared with $85.3 billion in March, and is below an estimated $86.5 billion forecast by economists polled by Reuters.
Goods exports increase $8.5 billion to $219.7 billion. At the same time, goods imports rise $5.6 billion to $302.1 billion. Together, the export gain is larger than the import increase, producing the smaller overall goods gap.
The reports also note that trade flows are one component of economic performance. The goods trade deficit subtracted 1.25 percentage points from gross domestic product in the first quarter. The U.S. economy grew at a 1.6% annualized rate in the most recent quarter cited, after expanding at a 0.5% pace in the October–December period.
