Balance Of Trade

The Commerce Department on Wednesday set preliminary anti-dumping duties of as much as 210% on millions of off-road tires from China that it said were being sold in the United States at unfairly low prices. The tires were the sixth Chinese product to be hit with U.S. anti-dumping duties since the start of the year. The others include nails, certain steel pipe, a teeth-whitening ingredient and laminated woven sacks used to package items such as dog food and bird seed.

The U.S. trade deficit shrank more than forecast in December and showed the first annual drop since 2001 as the faltering economy eroded demand for imported autos and consumer goods. The gap narrowed 6.9% from November to $58.8 billion, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Imports fell 1.1%, and exports rose 1.5%.

China's overall trade surplus shrank 10% in May from a year earlier, though its contentious gaps with the United States and Europe continued to expand -- suggesting more trade tensions ahead. Meanwhile, the government also reported Wednesday that China's index for producer prices, an indicator of inflation, jumped 8.2% in May, the fastest rise in more than three years, thanks to higher costs for oil and other raw materials compared with a year earlier.

The deficit in the broadest measure of American trade widened in the spring, reflecting a big jump in the country's foreign oil bill. The Commerce Department on Wednesday reported that the current account trade deficit increased 4.3% to $183.1 billion in the April-June quarter, compared to a revised deficit of $175.6 billion in the first quarter.

The U.S. trade deficit edged down in August as foreign oil imports retreated from a record high the previous month, a drop that more than offset a setback in exports. The Commerce Department said Friday that the trade deficit declined by 3.5% in August to $59.1 billion, the smallest imbalance since June. The deficit is expected to shrink even further in coming months as a severe economic slump in the U.S. depresses demand for oil and other imported goods.

The U.S. trade deficit in November was the smallest in 16 months, as a weak dollar and solid foreign economic growth helped exports set a record, a Commerce Department report showed Wednesday. The better-than-expected data were evidence of a stronger economy in the fourth quarter of 2006, and some analysts said it was a sign the huge trade deficit could be headed lower in 2007 after setting another annual record last year. Morgan Stanley economists raised their estimate of fourth-quarter U.S.

Maybe the Beatles were right -- strawberry fields are forever. It turns out that instead of destroying California's crop, this month's freeze might have saved it. Farmers were harvesting an unprecedented number of strawberries until the freeze. The pending surplus could have sent prices for early-season fruit crashing. "We were probably headed for an economic disaster," said Bill Reiman, a major Oxnard grower and secretary-treasurer of the California Strawberry Commission.

WASHINGTON -- The annual U.S. trade deficit soared to its fifth consecutive record last year, the Commerce Department announced Tuesday, adding fuel to a movement in Congress to remake U.S. trade policy. The Democrats who control Congress, particularly those who campaigned against free trade, called on the Bush administration to remedy a trade deficit that they blame for "failed businesses, displaced workers, lower real wages and rising inequality."

China's government said Monday that it was trying to shrink its swollen trade surplus but reported that its monthly gap soared to the second-highest level on record in February amid threats of possible U.S. sanctions. Commerce Minister Bo Xilai criticized proposed U.S. punitive tariffs as a violation of free trade and said they would hurt American companies. "The Chinese government never intends to pursue a large-scale trade surplus with others," Bo said.

The Bush administration Monday accused 63 trading partners, including China and the European Union, of erecting unfair barriers to American exports. U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab released the new report, which the administration is required to prepare to inform Congress of its priorities in trying to tear down trade barriers.