But one of the concerns is weak exports from a strong dollar and weak overseas economies will hurt U.S. growth further.
The Tokyo-based Japan Center for Economic Research estimates that the economy shrank in both October and November, in large measure due to weak exports with Europe as the primary culprit.
The country has run a deficit continuously for 30 years, but last year's was its biggest yet, driven not only by weak exports but also by rapid growth in consumer spending.
Exports remain weak and the government fears premature tightening could derail the recovery.
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Obama and his economic advisors clearly believe that a weak dollar will boost exports and thereby the economy as a whole.
India's economic growth is at its weakest in a decade, hurt by slowing investments and weak demand for its exports in developed markets.
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He'll say that the weak dollar is boosting exports and that the administration is trying to encourage trade, despite the efforts of protectionists in Congress.
Despite all that, the eastern jobless rate (17.2% in June) is still twice that of the west, productivity is a good third lower, exports remain weak.
Chancellor's Schroeder's remarks also suggested "a potentially dangerous divergence" between those who stress "the benefits of a weak euro in stimulating exports and job growth", and the European Central Bank, "which fears the inflationary consequences of a weak currency", the paper says.
The result of robust exports and weak imports linked to anemic domestic spending is its perennial current account surpluses, which, along with earlier high saving by households and now by businesses, allow it to finance its huge government deficits internally, with foreigners owning only 5%.
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The Bush Administration secretly likes a weak dollar because it improves exports and ignores the huge distortion that inflation causes in the economy.
Its GDP fell by 1% in the year to the third quarter, dragged down both by a collapse in exports and by weak domestic demand.
Lew will also need to calm investors who have grown concerned about possible currency wars after Japan's new government sought to lower the value of the yen as a way to boost exports and its weak economy.
Moreover, these foreigners can now do a bit to cushion the blow for Americans: already global demand, coupled with a weak dollar, is boosting American exports.
The big deficit underscores the impact of a weak global economy on India's exports of goods and services.
Net exports, buoyed by a weak dollar, lifted the sagging economy in 2007.
At present, growth is too dependent on exports, while consumption is weak.
One factor helping the growth figures was a downgrading of the role played by imports, which led to a stronger overall contribution from exports, but it suggested weak domestic demand.
But trade with European countries remained weak, with a 6 percent decline in exports from a year earlier.
"China's growth should continue to outpace other leading economies, cushioning the slowdown, but exports will still be constrained by weak demand in Europe, " it added.
Not only did the boost to GDP shrink from the second to third quarters, the slowing of the growth of both imports and exports is a reflection of a weak world economy.
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This reflects a protracted period of weak external demand with consequent strongly negative effects on exports and increasing uncertainty about high-growth emerging countries.
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Imports are slowing as consumers and firms cut back, while the combination of a weak dollar and still-strong global growth means exports of goods and services are rising smartly.
But as that stagnating growth is being blamed on exports, and in turn on the weak eurozone, the Budget day story that could resonate louder still was being played out in Nicosia, Moscow and Berlin.
The decline in exports and imports is a sign of a weak or weakening world economy.
Tanzania's exports are dominated by products whose price is weak - coffee, tea, cashew nuts and cotton.
Gustav Horn of IMK reckons that Germany's focus on exports created 400, 000 jobs, but weak demand cost another 1m.
Most growth sectors have strong exports--given a boost by the weak greenback--but they also tend to require capital and skilled labor that developing-nation manufacturers can't muster.
Many analysts expect Germany to show strong growth this year and Thursday it reported a 9.2% rise in exports for May, clearly boosted by the weak euro.
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