By tamping down our outsized appetite for the products of other countries, you combined with a weak dollar to erase nearly one-fourth of the trade deficit, excluding oil, since 2006.
Excluding oil, the trade deficit has fallen by almost one-quarter since 2006.
刨除石油，自2006年以来贸易赤字下降了近四分之一。
3
Moreover, part of the cost of absorbing past oil-price hikes has been higher consumer debt and a huge trade deficit, both of which make America's economy more vulnerable.