FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, August 9, 2012
CONTACT OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
202-482-4883

Acting U.S. Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank issued the following statement today on the release of the June 2012 U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services report (PDF) (June 2012) by the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis. The U.S. trade deficit in June shrank a significant 10.7 percent from May, to $42.9 billion, exceeding private-sector expectations. Exports grew a strong 0.9 percent, to a record $185.0 billion, and imports declined 1.5 percent, to $227.9 billion. June exports of goods ($132.8 billion) were also the highest on record.

“Today’s data shows that U.S. exports in June posted their highest level on record for the second time this year, despite challenging global economic conditions. Though much work remains to be done, the U.S. continues to make historic progress toward achieving President Obama’s National Export Initiative goal of doubling our exports by the end of 2014,” said Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank. “We also remain on track toward exceeding last year’s export total of $2.1 trillion. Higher exports mean more jobs: the significant increase in exports since 2009 has helped America create 4.5 million jobs over the past 29 months, and, in 2011, jobs supported by exports increased by 1.2 million over 2009. As we continue to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression, to further help our workers, our exporters, and our businesses, Congress should support the president’s proposals to make the tax code simpler and fairer for the middle class and small businesses and extend tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans, including 97 percent of small business owners.”

Exports Fact sheet (PDF)