Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 18, 1994                   TAG: 9402180125
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

TRADE GAP WITH JAPAN JUMPS TO RECORD HIGH

The U.S. trade imbalance widened 37 percent, to $115.78 billion, as imports grew twice as fast as U.S. exports, a reflection, analysts said, of the weak world economy.

The deficit with Japan shot up 23.7 percent, to $59.3 billion, surpassing the old record of $56.3 billion set in 1987.

The Clinton administration said the figures highlighted why it was aggressively pursuing a new get-tough approach with Japan. Administration officials and private economists did take heart that the deficit for December shrank to the lowest level in a year and said they hoped it pointed to better days ahead.

Many analysts predicted the trade deficit would worsen in 1994 as economic stagnation in Europe and Japan continues to hold down U.S. exports.

David Wyss, an economist at DRI-McGraw Hill Inc., predicted the deficit would rise to $150 billion in 1994 and $190 billion in 1995 before starting to improve in 1996.

"The rest of the world is still in recession, while we are growing. It will be another year before the momentum starts to swing the other way," he said.

The narrowing of the trade gap in December reflected a big jump in U.S. sales of civilian aircraft and a sizable decline in America's foreign oil bill.

For the year, exports were up 3.7 percent to a record $464.77 billion, while imports rose 9 percent to a record $580.54 billion.

The export gain was paced by higher sales of nonmonetary gold, computer chips and telecommunication equipment.

The import increase reflected a big $10.66 billion rise in autos and auto parts, computer parts and computer chips, and apparel. America's foreign oil bill declined for the year, falling a slight 0.7 percent to $50.18 billion.