MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Record US trade deficit with Latinamerica.

Latin American and the Caribbean registered a record trade surplus of 82, 39 billion US dollars with the United States in 2004, according to the US Department of Commerce.

This represents a 22% increase over 2003 when the surplus reached 67, 53 billion US dollars.

Mexico tops the list with a surplus of 40.65 billion US dollars in 2003 and 45, 07 billion US dollars in 2004. Argentina on the other hand experienced a drop in its surplus: 732 million US dollars in 2003 to 359 million US dollars in 2004.

Latin America's biggest economy Brazil managed a trade surplus with the United States of 7, 29 billion US dollars in 2004, up from nearly 6.7 billion the previous year.

One of the largest gains was logged by oil exporting Venezuela.

The surplus jumped 41% from 14,31 billion US dollars in 2003 to 20,18 billion last year.