The New York Times reported on December 11, 2010 "U.S. Deficit in Trade Narrowed In October" by Christine Hauser that there is one small bright spot.

The Commerce Department reports that the trade gap was $38.7 billion in October 2010. the smallest since January 2010, when it had been down at 34.8 billion.

A trade deficit forecast of $43.8 billion had been forecast for October 2010, so the numbers were better than expected.

The narrowing was due to an increase in American exports. Most of the increase in exports was agricultural goods like food (soybeans to China) and some gas and oil sent to Mexico.

Unfortunately, there was no big increase in manufacturing exports, so while this narrowing deficit is good news overall, it is not as good as one would have hoped. Manufacturing increases are desirable, as this decreases unemployment.