Question 1: U.S. Trade Deficits and Trading Partners

Use theU.S. trade data obtained from the following U.S. Census link. Data for year-to-date (from January to October 2020) is expressed in billions of dollars. Check the 1^sttable entitled "Year-to-Date Total Trade."

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/highlights/top/top2010yr.html

1. How much were U.S.exportsvalue (total, all countries)? How much were U.S.importsvalue (total, all countries)? Calculate the U.S. trade deficits/surpluses.
2. Choose one trading partner from the same table. Is it a major trading partner? This is indicated by the percent of total trade with this trading partner (hint: look at the last column "Percent of Total Trade").

Question 2: Exchange Rate

The US dollar has been strong. What does it mean? Explain the impact of currency appreciation on U.S. imports and exports. Please give a short answer.

The effects of the appreciation are explained in many online sources. For example, you can check the following Investopedia website:https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/currency-appreciation.asp

The U.S. trade deficits and the US dollar are explained in the FED's article: "Behind U.S. Trade Deficits"https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2019/january/behind-us-trade-deficit