Calculated Risk

The Great Recession has prompted many consumers to say that they want to buy more American-made products, and rely less on imports.

One of the best things they could do to reduce our trade deficit is turn off their engines.

To understand why, take a look at the chart above, which comes courtesy of the blog Calculated Risk.

The blue line shows the total trade deficit, which stood at around $43.7 billion in April, according to government data released this week.

That red line? That’s what the trade deficit would be if we weren’t importing all that pricey petroleum. In April, the trade deficit not counting petroleum imports was at about $17.6 billion.