In 1997 the United States imported merchandise valued at $871 billion and exported merchandise worth $689 billion. The difference between these two quantities

(exports minus imports) is referred to as the merchandise trade balance. Since more goods were imported than exported in 1997, the merchandise trade balance was a negative $182 billion. The accompanying table lists the U.S. exports to and imports from a sample of 10 countries in 1997 (in millions of dollars).

a. Calculate the U.S. merchandise trade balance with each of the ten countries. Express your answers in billions of dollars.

b. Use a z-score to identify the relative position of the U.S. trade balance with Japan within the data set you developed in part

a. Do the same for the trade balance with Egypt. Write a sentence or two that describes the relative positions of these two trade balances Country

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Brazil China Egypt France Italy Japan Mexico Panama Sweden Singapore Exports

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15,914.7 12,862.3 3,835.4 15,964.9 8,994.7 65,548.5 71,388.4 1,536.1 3,314.1 17,696.2 Imports

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9,625.5 62,557.6 657.5 20,636.4 19,407.5 121,663.2 85,937.5 367.2 7,298.9 20,074.6 Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1998, pp. 801-804.