The U.S. trade deficit decreased in September as exports rose and imports fell, a sign that U.S. economy is strengthening despite the global meltdown.
The international trade deficit, the amount by which a country’s import costs exceeds that of its export costs, in goods and services fell to $40.8 billion down $7.2 billion from $48.0 billion in August, revised.
While the total export increased around $3.0 billion in September up from $184.9 billion in August, the import decreased around $4.3 billion.
The goods deficit with European Union decreased while that with China and Mexico increased. The plunge is an optimistic sign since Germany, U.K. and France feature in the top ten countries with whom U.S. has international trade relations.
Why do we care?
There is a growing concern about the global economy especially with the economic slowdown in China and the strengthening of dollar. The well-being of the U.S. economy has an impact on the global economy and so it is important to know where the nation stands with respect to the world.
U.S. has taken a long time to recover from the recession of 2008, and its impact could be felt in the job market for a long time. But the latest job report, which came out on Friday, shows a robust growth in non-farm payroll which shows that the country has come out of the recovery phase and is strengthening.
Data Visualization:
I plan to trace the trade deficit over the decade, how it went up and down during the rough phases of the economy. I also plan to show the relation between the strong dollar and its effect on the global economy and U.S.’s international trade relations. I want to show a chart pointing out the top countries with whom U.S. does its business and what are the goods it exports and imports primarily.
Contacts:
Matthew Przybocki,
Goods-U.S. Census Bereau, # 301-763-3148
Maria Iseman,
Goods-U.S. Census Bereau, # 301- 763- 2311
Jeannine Aversa,
News Media, #202-606-2649
Links to the Data:
http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/trade/tradnewsrelease.htm
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/data/index.html
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/highlights/congressional.html