The latest US trade data show a small improvement. The trade balance for February 2009 stood at -$26.0BÂ from $36.2 in January.
Canada, China and Mexico remained the top three countries with which the US trades. Trade with Canada, the largest trading partner of US, stood at $33.02B but that is still 32% less than the figure in February 2008. Similarly trade with Mexico and China are also down as well.
Chart (click to expand):
Source: Census.gov
The above chart shows that exports increased in February.However total imports are higher than exports. Total imports of goods were $121.5 billion in February while goods export was just $84.7B. This is understandable since we import lots of cheap goods from overseas. Another observation is that the gap between exports and imports(trade balance) is shrinking since mid-2008.
