U.S. trade deficit declines in May

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is currently attending the G20 Summit in Hamburg, where members – comprising 19 countries and the European Union – are discussing international trade, among other global issues.    The United States’ trade deficit in May fell 2.3 percent from a month prior to $46.51 billion as the value of the nation’s exports during the month were the strongest since April 2015, according to data from the U.S. Commerce Department.
   However, economists polled by the Wall Street Journal expected a smaller trade deficit of $46.2 billion for the month.
   U.S. exports in May totaled $192.03 billion, up 0.4 percent from April. Michael Pearce, a U.S. economist at Capital Economics said in a note to clients that “evidence suggests that annual export growth will accelerate from here, reflecting the strength of the global economy and the slight depreciation of the U.S. dollar since the beginning of the year.”
   Meanwhile, U.S. imports in May stood at $238.54 billion, down 0.1 percent from April.
   During the month, surpluses were recorded with South and Central America ($2.4 billion), Hong Kong ($2.3 billion), Singapore ($0.8 billion), Brazil ($0.8 billion) and the United Kingdom ($0.7 billion).
    Deficits, on the other hand, were recorded with China ($30.1 billion), the European Union ($10.7 billion), Mexico ($6.8 billion), Japan ($6.4 billion), Germany ($4.7 billion), Italy ($2.4 billion), Canada ($2.2 billion), India ($2.0 billion), Taiwan ($1.7 billion), France ($1.7 billion), the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ($1.1 billion), South Korea ($0.8 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($0.2 billion), Commerce said.
   Despite the trade deficit declining month-over-month in May, for the first five months of 2017, the deficit rose 13.1 percent from the same period in 2016 to $233.07 billion. The value of U.S. imports rose 7.3 percent from the first five months of 2016 to $1.19 trillion, while exports rose 6 percent year-over-year to $957.84 billion.
   Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is currently attending the G20 Summit in Hamburg, where members – comprising 19 countries and the European Union – are discussing international trade, among other global issues.
   Trump said on twitter, “I look forward to all meetings today with world leaders, including my meeting with Vladimir Putin. Much to discuss.”