The gap has narrowed more than anyone predicted just a few months ago.
In December, export sales rose 1.5percentt and the trade deficit narrowed more than expected, falling 6.9percentto to $58.8 billion.
The euro slipped against the dollar, pressed partly by data showing that the German trade surplus had narrowed more than expected.
The country's trade surplus narrowed more than expected as American demand cooled, signaling the impetus exports contributed to economic growth last quarter is fading.
Official figures showed the UK's trade deficit with the rest of the world narrowed more than expected in October as exports rose and imports fell.
The nation's current account deficit narrowed more than expected in the third quarter to $174.1 billion as exports of goods and services rose, the Commerce Department said.
Simon Wallace, an economist at the Centre for Economic and Business Research, said: "The US trade balance on goods and services narrowed more than expected in April to a deficit of $58.8bn.
The trade surplus narrowed more than expected in July, to 4.85 billion Canadian dollars ($4.54 billion), Statistics Canada said, as imports grew twice as rapidly as exports.
NBC Internet Inc., the online media company whose president resigned last week, said yesterday that its third-quarter loss narrowed more than expected and that its fourth-quarter loss would also be less than forecast.
"This is not news; the data's been out for at least 15 years," said Sei Lee, a geriatrician at the University of California, San Francisco, and a member of the working group that narrowed more than 100 recommendations down to five.
