U.S. exports down 1% in July

   The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday reported the country’s exports in goods and services for July was $183.3 billion, down 1 percent compared to the month previously.
   Imports for July also declined 0.8 percent to $225.3 billion, compared to June.
   “While there’s still more work to do, we remain on track toward exceeding last year’s export total of $2.1 trillion, meaning we continue making historic progress toward achieving President Obama’s National Export Initiative goal of doubling our exports by the end of 2014,” said Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank, in a statement.
   Exports of goods and services over the last 12 months (August 2011 to July 2012) totaled $2.171 trillion, which is 37.5 percent above the level of exports in 2009. Over the last twelve months, exports have been growing at an annualized rate of 13.1 percent when compared to 2009.
   The countries with the largest annualized increase in U.S. goods purchases during this period, when compared to 2009, occurred in Panama (36.3 percent), Turkey (28.6 percent), Chile (27.6 percent), Argentina (27.5 percent), Hong Kong (26.9 percent), Russia (26.5 percent), Peru (25.4 percent), United Arab Emirates (21.8 percent), Ecuador (21.7 percent), and Brazil (21.6 percent).