The US trade gap edged slightly higher in October than the month before to $78.2 billion, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.
The latest reading was up just 5.4%, less than half the pace of increase from the revised September reading, when the trade deficit rose by 12.7% to $74.1 billion.
A strong dollar and weaker global demand weighed on exports both months.
The latest report shows exports fell 0.7% in October compared to the month before, and are down nearly 2% from the record exports set in August.
Most of the drop was in the export of goods, rather than services, which fell 4.4% compared to August.
Oil prices have come down since earlier this year, according to data released in the report. The average price of crude oil imports in the month was $82.05 a barrel, down 5.7% from September, and down 21.7% from the peak in June.
The deficit in the movement of goods between the United States and China narrowed significantly in the latest report, falling 22.6% to $28.9 billion from $37.3 billion.
Although most of that narrowing was due to a 31.3% jump in the export of US goods to China, compared to September, a 9.5% decline in US imports of Chinese goods was also a factor in the smaller trade deficit between the two countries.
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