News In Brief

Trade deficit may top $100 billion in 1984

The trade deficit may exceed $100 billion in 1984, according to Martin Feldstein, the chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. The trade deficit for this year is likely to be between $60 billion and $70 billion - or nearly twice the record $36 billion reached in 1982, Mr. Feldstein told the House Banking Committee Tuesday. He said the primary reason for the increase was the rise in the real value of the dollar in relation to other currencies.

He said the value of the dollar had risen so much because large federal budget deficits had increased interest rates in the United States. But he said the value of the dollar would eventually decline.