Exports to China for November also reached a record $9.5 billion.
U.S. imports of goods and services increased 0.6 percent over this period to $198 billion, decreasing the trade deficit 0.3 percent since October to $38.3 billion in November. The improvement in the goods and services trade balance was due to a record monthly surplus in trade in services ($12.9 billion).
'We have now seen a full year of private sector job growth, as well as GDP gains in each of the last five quarters,' said U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, in a statement. 'In fact, today’s data shows that through November, U.S. exports of goods and services in 2010 surged almost 17 percent from their level in 2009, an increase of $239 billion.”
In the coming days, Locke will meet with China's President Hu Jintao during his state visit to Washington. In February, he will lead a high-tech business development trade mission to India to advance President Obama's trade agenda.
'In the years ahead, there are going to be hundreds of millions of people in India, in China and around the world moving into the middle class, and that represents an enormous opportunity for U.S. businesses,' Locke said.
