Trade is the sum of exports and imports of goods and services measured as a share of gross domestic product.
A positive balance is known as a trade surplus if it consists of more being exported than is imported; a negative balance is referred to as a trade deficit or, informally, a trade gap.
The balance of trade is sometimes divided into a goods and a services balance. The trade balance is also identical to the difference between a country's output and its domestic demand.
The United States has had a trade deficit since the late 1960s and its trade deficit has been increasing at a rapid rate since 1997, reaching its maximum at 5.8% of GDP in 2006.
The Czech economy is one of the most open in the world. The sum of exports and imports accounts for more than 130% of GDP.
Thanks to large-scale privatisation and the arrival of foreign companies, solid infrastructure and cultural and economic proximity to Germany, the Czechs are net exporters.
Cars and machinery represent nearly half of total exports (mainly to Germany); on the other hand, fuels and chemicals are the main import items, mainly from the East.
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