US trade deficit narrows slightly

The U.S. trade deficit dropped slightly August to September, helped largely by smaller deficits with oil exporters and Europe. Among major trading partners, the trade gap with China rose from $28.7 billion to $29.1 billion. But the trade bap with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries dropped by $1 billion, falling from $8.1 billion to $7.1 billion and the deficit with the European Union dropped by $3.1 billion, as it dropped from $11.7 billion to $8.6 billion. Overall, the trade gap fell from a downwardly revised $43.8 billion in August to $41.5 billion in September, as both the goods deficit shrank and the services surplus rose, the Commerce Department said. The goods deficit dropped by $1.4 billion to $57.5 billion, while the services surplus gained $800 million to $15.9 billion. The combination pushed the overall trade deficit down from a downwardly revised August deficit of $43.8 billion to $41.5 billion. The gain in exports also exceeded the gain in imports. Exports in September rose by $5.6 billion to $187 billion, while imports rose by $3.4 billion to 228.5 billion. As for other trading partners, the deficit with Germany fell from $5.7 billion to $5.2 billion. The deficit in trading with Japan dropped from $6.7 billion to $4.8 billion.