balance of trade
Also known as commercial balance, net exports
difference between the monetary value of exports and imports
AI overview
The balance of trade is the difference between how much money a country makes by selling goods to other countries versus how much it spends buying goods from other countries. It matters because it shows whether a country is selling more than it's buying (a surplus) or buying more than it's selling (a deficit), which can affect the country's economy and its relationships with trading partners.
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Balance of trade is the difference between the monetary value of a nation's exports and imports of goods over a certain time period. Sometimes, trade in services is also included in the balance of trade but the official IMF definition only considers goods. The balance of trade measures a flow variable of exports and imports over a given period of time. The notion of the balance of trade does not mean that exports and imports are "in balance" with each other.
If a country exports a greater value than it imports, it has a trade surplus or positive trade balance, and conversely, if a country imports a greater value than it exports, it has a trade deficit or negative trade balance. As of 2016, about 60 out of 200 countries have a trade surplus. The world's largest trade surpluses are held by China ($823 billion), Germany ($226 billion), and Singapore ($154 billion), while the largest trade deficits are held by the United States ($1.15 trillion), United Kingdom ($271 billion), and India ($241 billion).