WASHINGTON, Feb 21: The US trade deficit narrowed 7.8 per cent in 2001 — the first decline in six years — as a US recession pounded imports and a global slowdown hurt exports, the government said Thursday.

The trade shortfall was cut to 346.3 billion dollars in 2001 from 375.7 billion dollars in 2000, the Commerce Department said.

Imports of goods and services tumbled 6.3 per cent to 1.35 trillion dollars while exports dropped 5.8 percent to 1.00 trillion dollars.

In raw figures, the US goods trade deficit with Japan, the world’s second-biggest economy, slumped to 69.0 billion dollars in 2001 — the lowest since 1998 — from 81.6 billion dollars in 2000.

The goods trade deficit with China was 83.0 billion dollars for the year, down marginally from 83.8 billion dollars in 2000, as both exports and imports hit record levels.

In trade with the euro zone, the 2001 US deficit widened to 54.0 billion dollars in 2001 from 47.3 billion dollars in the same period a year earlier, it said.

The combined goods trade deficit with the newly industrialized countries of Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan was cut to $25.8bn in 2001 from $29.3 billion in 2000.

With Canada, the US goods trade deficit widened to 53.3 billion dollars from $51.9 billion in 2000. In trade with Mexico, the deficit grew to $29.9 billion from $24.6 billion.—AFP