The US trade deficit widened slightly in 2016 to 502.3 billion dollars, the largest deficit since 2012.
The deficit expanded to a record of the last four years and it stems from the fact that the exports from the United States shrank in a sharper pace than imports to the United States.
Japan today released the trade balance figures indicate that the exports grew in December 2016 by 5.4%, the first time in 15 months.
The increase in exports is due to higher exports of auto parts and electronics.
Japan’s exports in November rose with the weakening of the Japanes yen and rising demand in markets outside Japan.
According to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, the exports in November rose by 7.4% compared with the same month last year, and decreased by 1.4% compared to the previous month.
Seventh month in a row of decline in exports from China
Chinese exports continued to fall in October, though at a slower pace.
According to data released today the exports fell by 7.3% compared with October 2015 and after a fall of 10% in September.
Serious disappointment in China:
The exports from the country fell in September by 10% (compared to September last year), versus economists forecast a decline of 3.2% only, and after a falling of 2.8% in August.
This is the sixth consecutive month of decline in exports of China.
The imports to China in September recorded a decline of 1.9%, versus a forecast of a rise of 1% and an increase of 1.5% in August.
The trade balance surplus in September was of 41.99 billion versus a forecast of 52.30 billion and a surplus of 52.05 billion dollars in August.
According to data released today by the German statistics office, the trade surplus of Germany in August was higher than expected, after recovering from a slowdown in exports in July.
The surplus rose to 22.2 billion euros (24.8 billion dollars) in August, compared with 19.4 billion euros in July.
The exports rose by 5.4% from the previous month.
The US trade deficit rose in August by 3.3% to 40.7 billion dollars, while the market forecast stood at a deficit of 39 billion.
The US exports rose in Augst by 0.8% to 187.9 billion dollars, the highest level since July 2015.
Imports increased by 1.2% to 228.6 billion, the highest level in 11 months.
A sharper decline in US import prices
The US import prices fell last month for the first time since February due to the retreat of oil prices.
The export prices recorded the sharpest fall this year due to a drop in prices of agricultural exports.
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