WASHINGTON – The U.S. international trade gap narrowed in May to $46.5 billion, very close to the $46.3 billion gap expected and following a roughly unrevised $47.6 billion gap in April.
The smaller trade gap was the result of a 0.4% gain in total exports and a 0.1% decline in total imports.
The revised Census goods gap reported Thursday was $66.3 billion, smaller than the revised $67.1 billion gap in April, but slightly larger than the advance estimate of $65.9 billion. The overall BOP goods gap narrowed to $67.5 billion in May from $68.4 billion in April.
The petroleum gap widened to $6.2 billion in May from $5.4 billion in April, while the nonpetroleum gap narrowed to -$60.1 billion from $61.7 billion.
The chained goods gap narrowed slightly to $62.8 billion from $63.8 billion in April, putting the second quarter average at $63.3 billion. This was modestly larger than the $62.2b gap in the first quarter, a negative for second quarter GDP.
The unadjusted bilateral trade gaps with Mexico, the EU, China and Japan all widened from April, but there were smaller gaps with Canada and South America.
