Oil Tumble Sends U.S. Trade Gap to Four-Year Low: Economy

A plunge in oil imports pushed the trade deficit in November to the lowest level in four years, showing the U.S. economy is becoming more energy independent.

The gap narrowed 12.9 percent to $34.3 billion, smaller than projected by any economist surveyed by Bloomberg and the least since October 2009, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. Petroleum imports were the weakest in three years as advances in domestic extraction put the U.S. on track to become the world’s largest oil producer by 2015.