WASHINGTON, June 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. trade balance deficit narrowed sharply in April amid falling imports, official statistics showed on Tuesday, suggesting foreign trade could help growth in the second quarter for the first time in two years.
The deficit in trade in goods fell by 19.1% to 87.1 billion dollars (81.7 billion euros), announced the Commerce Department.
Economists polled by Reuters on average expected a deficit of $89.5 billion after -107.7 billion in March (revised).
Imports of goods and services fell 3.4% to $339.7 billion, while exports rose 3.5% to $252.6 billion.
The record trade deficit recorded in the first three months of the year had cut gross domestic product by 3.23 percentage points in the first quarter, leading to an annualized contraction of 1.5% after sustained growth of 6.9 % in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Foreign trade has been holding back US GDP growth for seven straight quarters. (Report Lucia Mutikani; French version Claude Chendjou, edited by Kate Entringer)
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