US trade balance data

In United States, the merchandise (goods) trade balance is the most widely known indicator of U.S international economic activity. In 2011, total merchandise trade has reached $3,688 billion. A 16% increase over the 2010 value, a 22% increase in 2010 which is up to $3,191 billion and a 23% decrease in 2009 which up to $2,616 billion. From the data obtained above, merchandise exports in 2011 total is $1,480 billion, while imports had reached $2,208 billion. The U.S merchandise trade deficit fell massively from $816 billion in 2008 to $504 billion in 2009 but then it increased to $635 billion in 2010 and $717 billion in 2011. Besides that, U.S merchandise exports decreased in 2001 and 2002 in response to the global slowdown, but after that, it generally increased each year until 2009. The growth of imports has also been steady, although they too fell by 6.4% in 2001 before recovering in 2002.In 2003, import growth was nearly double export growth, although in 2004, export growth almost caught up with that of imports, and in 2005, the rate of increase for both dropped slightly. Growth in exports and imports slowed in 2007 with exports rising by 12.3% and imports by 5.7%. Likewise in 2008, exports grew faster than imports which are 12.4% versus 7.3%, but the trade deficit still increased.
This is because U.S. imports are greater than U.S. exports, so exports must grow significantly faster than imports just for the deficit to remain constant. Then in 2009, with the full force of the financial crisis, exports decreased more slowly than imports which is -17.9% versus -25.9%, before each took a sharp upward turn in 2010 as recovery began. In 2010 exports rose by 21%, followed by a slowing to 16% growth in 2011. U.S. imports grew 23% in 2010 followed by 15% in 2011.