The Trade Deficit Narrows

Some good economic news: The U.S. trade deficit fell more than expected in November as the simmering tariff battle between the us and China cooled off some. The shortfall in goods and services declined to $43.09 billion for the month, which represented the U.S.'s lowest trade deficit since October 2016.

Overall for the U.S., exports rose $1.4 billion to $208.6 billion, while imports fell $2.5 billion to $251.7 billion. On a year-to-date basis, the total deficit of goods and services has now fallen $3.9 billion, or 0.7 percent, from the same period in 2018. That's due almost entirely to a decline in imports.

For China in particular, our trade deficit China decreased $2.2 billion in November to $25.6 billion. That was the result of a $1.4 billion increase in exports and an $800 million decline in imports.