Latin American Trade Surplus with the U.S. Tops $100 Billion

With oil exporters Venezuela and Mexico leading, Latin America and the Caribbean posted a $100.8 billion trade surplus with the United States in 2005, up 32.2 percent from the previous year, reported Friday the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Latin America and the Caribbean accounted for 17.5 percent of all goods and services imported by the United States, up slightly from its 17 percent share of 2004. But the region accounted for a significantly lower percentage of U.S. exports, 13.2 percent, compared to 21 percent in 2005.

Venezuela´s trade surplus with the United States rose to $27.6 billion last year, compared with 20.2 billion in 2004. Mexico jumped to a $50.1 billion surplus in 2005 from $45 billion the previous year. Brazil´s trade surplus in 2005 was up almost $2 billion to $9.1 billion, and Argentina posted $472 million surplus compared with $357 million in 2004.

The United States 2005 overall trade deficit was $725.8 billion in 2005, almost 18 percent more than in 2004. While exports have climbed, they have struggled to keep up as record oil prices, strong consumer demand and cheap foreign goods boosted imports.

In December, U.S. exports rose by 2.1 percent to $111.5 billion, as imports increased by 1.9 percent to $177.2 billion with the deficit reaching $65.7 billion up from November´s $64.7 billion.