balance of trade

noun phrase

: the difference in value over a period of time between a country's imports and exports

Examples of balance of trade in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But these Chinese goods are still entering Latin American markets at a frantic pace: the region’s balance of trade with China, still in surplus in 2005, had fallen into a deep deficit of $30 billion by 2015. —Luke Patey, Foreign Affairs, 21 Nov. 2016

Word History

First Known Use

1668, in the meaning defined above