US Trade Deficit Falls More than Expected in February

The U.S. trade deficit fell more than expected in February as exports increased to a two-year high and slowing domestic demand weighed on imports.

The narrowing in the trade gap comes as the Trump administration is pushing ahead with its agenda for fair trade and bringing back manufacturing jobs to the United States as it seeks to boost economic growth.



The Commerce Department said on Tuesday the trade deficit declined 9.6 percent to $43.6 billion. January’s trade shortfall was revised slightly down to $48.2 billion from $48.5 billion. The politically sensitive U.S.-China trade deficit dropped 26.6 percent to $23.0 billion in February.

The decline in the U.S.-China trade deficit comes ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit later this week. President Donald Trump has declared China the “grand champions” of currency manipulation.

“The U.S has its work cut out for it if it is going to try to alter the pattern of trade that has developed between China and U.S. companies over the last 10 to 20 years,” said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York.

via SOURCE

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza