U.S. Trade Deficit Narrows as Dependence on Foreign Oil Shrinks
ThinkstockWednesday morning, the U.S. Department of Commerce released the number for the U.S. trade deficit for the month of June. This was an unexpected turn from what was expected, partially due to U.S. domestic oil production. Bloomberg initially posted May’s…
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Wednesday morning, the U.S. Department of Commerce released the number for the U.S. trade deficit for the month of June. This was an unexpected turn from what was expected, partially due to U.S. domestic oil production. Bloomberg initially posted May’s trade deficit at $44.4 billion, but it was later revised to $44.7 billion. Bloomberg’s consensus estimate for June was 45.0 billion, which shoots just a little high of the mark.
Overall the June exports totaled at $195.9 billion and the imports at $237.4 billion, resulting in a deficit of $41.5 billion, marking a decrease of $3.2 billion from May’s revised number. This is the third consecutive month that the trade gap has shortened.
The breakdown for the export and import and goods and services:
- Goods deficit decreased $3 billion to $60.3 billion, and services surplus increased $0.1 billion to $18.7 billion
- Exports of goods increased .1 billion to 136.9 billion
- Imports of goods decreased 2.9 billion to 197.2 billion
- Exports of services increased .1 billion to 59.0 billion
- Imports of services remained unchanged at 40.2 billion
The most significant change we see is the decrease in foreign imported goods, which reflected the lowest petroleum trade deficit since 2009. This in part is due to a decreased dependence on foreign oil as a result of increased domestic production. However, for the first time in three months, U.S. petroleum exports did not post a gain.
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Chris Lange is a financial and geopolitical writer with more than a decade of experience covering a myriad of topics. He has published thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St., with past coverage focused heavily on stocks, IPOs, healthcare, defense, global affairs, and technology.
His work has been quoted, or referenced by a number of outlets including Business Insider, USA Today, Yahoo Finance, MSN, The Motley Fool, and many other publications. A graduate of Southwestern University, he studied business with a focus on investments and has previous experience in banking and startups.
When not reading or writing the news, he is following his passion for Lacrosse, playing chess, or building solar projects with his dad.
