Tuesday, July 13, 2004 | 9:16 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- America's trade deficit narrowed to $46 billion in May, an improvement brought about as U.S. exports posted their best month on record.
The latest snapshot of trade activity, reported by the Commerce Department today, came after the deficit had mushroomed to an all-time monthly high of $48.1 billion in April. The 4.5 percent reduction in the deficit during May represented the largest over-the-month decrease since October 2002. The decline was the first after five months of increases.
The trade deficit figure for May was better than some analysts were expecting. They were forecasting the deficit to hold fairly steady. The narrowing of the gap in May resulted from export growth far outpacing imports, which still climbed to a record high.
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