trade deficit

noun

finance
: a situation in which a country buys more from other countries than it sells to other countries : the amount of money by which a country's imports are greater than its exports

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The European Union had a 300-billion-euro ($350 billion) trade deficit with China last year, and while the trade bloc’s individual 27 member states must decide as a group how to levy new duties and broker trade agreements, the French president is intent on mobilizing action against China. Kate Nishimura, Sourcing Journal, 8 Dec. 2025 Even so, India’s goods trade deficit hit a new high on weak exports and higher gold imports. Priyanka Salve, CNBC, 28 Nov. 2025 The United States ran a $38 billion trade deficit with Switzerland last year, according to US Commerce Department data. Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN Money, 14 Nov. 2025 The president has championed the steepest tariff hikes since before World War II to shrink the trade deficit and encourage a re-shoring of manufacturing. Jarrell Dillard, Fortune, 13 Nov. 2025 See All Example Sentences for trade deficit

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“Trade deficit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trade%20deficit. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.

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