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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Still, the resilience masks a more complicated picture, economists said, given the cooling labor market and a record trade deficit in goods in December. semafor.com, 23 Feb. 2026 The president has used tariffs against China as a threat to lower the trade deficit, stop intellectual property theft and more. Brittney Melton, NPR, 23 Feb. 2026 The gap between America’s spending and its gross domestic product determines the magnitude of America’s trade deficit. Steve H. Hanke, Fortune, 23 Feb. 2026 And the president selected to use it because of the huge expanse of the -- in the trade deficit, a 40 percent expansion under President Biden. ABC News, 22 Feb. 2026 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 25 Feb. 2026.

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