"For 2019, the goods and services deficit decreased (by) $10.9 billion, or 1.7 percent, from 2018", the Commerce Department said on its website.
The data presented by the Commerce Department showed that most of the deficit contributed through trade with China despite the fact that the Trump administration also waged tariff battles with Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
The US trade deficit with China shrank by $73.9 billion to $345.6 billion in 2019, with drops occurring particularly between November and December. During those months, US buyers made an effort to avoid Chinese imports amid Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on some $360 billion worth of Chinese goods before the year-end.
The Commerce Department data also showed US exports fell as a whole in 2019 - by $1.5 billion to around $2.5 trillion - while imports fell $12.5 billion to $3.1 trillion.
