The U.S. trade deficit fell to $52.5 billion in September, down from $56.1 billion a year earlier. While a success in terms of the Trump administration’s main trade metric, it involved a 2.3% slide in total trade activity compared to a year earlier. Aside from the trade war-driven drop in merchandise trade there has also been a slowdown in exports of services. The latter expanded by just 0.2% as a result of a 3.0% drop in intellectual property exports. Goods trade with China fell 18.3%, including an 11.6% slide in exports after a small improvement in August. China’s not t...