US trade gains on oil cut and higher-priced exports

The nation's trade deficit, on a balance-of-payments basis, shrank in the third quarter to the smallest level since mid-1976, the Commerce Department said. The deficit -- the broadest economic measure of the country's trade with the rest of the world -- was $2.7 billion in the third quarter of 1980, down from $7.6 billion in the second quarter. Exports increased 3.1 percent, or $1.7 billion, to $56.4 billion, with higher prices accounting for the increase. Imports decreased 5 percent, or $3 billion, to $59.1 billion, mostly because of a decline in oil imports.