According to data released Friday by the US Census Bureau and the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, total December exports of $178.8 billion and imports of $227.6 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $48.8 billion during the month of December. The US imported $3 billion more goods and services in December than in November.
Both imports and exports rose in Canada, according to a report released Friday by Statistics Canada. Imports increased by 0.8 percent to C$39.3 billion and exports rose by 4.5 percent to C$42 billion during the month of December. This caused Canada's trade surplus to rise from C$1.2 billion in November to C$2.7 billion in December. The gain in imports increased the most in the metals and metal ores sectors while energy products was the only sector to decrease during December.