Recent movements in the overall trade balance of the Nation have been encouraging. American exports are booming (they set a new record dollar-valued high in April), export growth has outstripped import growth for eight consecutive months, and the trade deficit in goods and services has declined (it fell by 3.1% in the 1st quarter of 2007). While it is too early to tell if the trade and related current account deficits are on a longer-term trend of improvement, lagged effects of declines in the value of the U.S. dollar along with resurging growth in economies of our trading partners may be taking hold to help erase what have, since the early 1990s, been persistent and increasingly large deficits. This article provides some basic definitions for the trade and current account deficits and discusses recent movements in the trade and current account deficits and in the value of the U.S. dollar in historical perspective.