The U.S. trade deficit fell for the first time in six years in 2019 as the White House's trade war with China curbed the import bill, keeping the economy on a moderate growth path despite a slowdown in consumer spending and weak business investment.
The report from the Commerce Department on Wednesday also showed the Trump administration's "America First" agenda decreased the flow of goods last year, with exports posting their first decline since 2016. President Donald Trump, who has dubbed himself "the tariff man," has pledged to shrink the deficit by shutting out more unfairly traded imports and renegotiating free trade agreements.
Trump has argued that substantially cutting the trade deficit would boost annual economic growth to 3 percent on a sustainable basis. The economy has, however, failed to hit that mark, growing 2.3 percent in 2019, which was the slowest in three years, after expanding 2.9 percent in 2018.