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balance of trade

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noun
  1. the difference between the values of exports and imports of a country, said to be favorable or unfavorable as exports are greater or less than imports.

Origin of balance of trade

First recorded in 1660–70
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for balance of trade

balance of trade

noun
  1. economics the difference in value between total exports and total imports of goodsAlso called: visible balance Compare invisible balance
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
balance of trade in Culture

balance of trade

That part of the balance of payments relating to goods only (as opposed to services, monetary movements, official reserve transactions, etc.).

Note

A nation whose imports are worth more than its exports is said to have an unfavorable balance of trade, or to be running a trade deficit.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.