Trade Balance: Reality Edition

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-13/trade-deficit-in-u-s-unexpectedly-narrows-to-10-month-low.html

The news today has mostly been focusing on the supposed narrowing trade gap due to a weaker dollar and “growing global demand”.

Here’s what the numbers YTD look like in 2005 chained dollars compared to last year:

The trade gap has actually increased $66.73 billion.

Source:  http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/current_press_release/index.html