The difference between a country's exports and imports of goods and services is its trade balance.
Economists usually calculate it as exports minus imports over a stated period, such as a month, quarter, or year. A positive result is a trade surplus; a negative result is a trade deficit. The balance can be reported for goods alone, services alone, or both together, depending on the statistical system being used.
The trade balance is narrower than the balance of payments. The latter records a country's broader economic transactions with the rest of the world, including investment flows, income, and transfers. The trade balance forms one part of the current account, which also includes items such as net foreign income.
A common mistake is to treat “trade surplus” or “trade deficit” as the name of the measure itself. Those terms describe the direction of the balance, not the underlying calculation. Trade figures are also affected by exchange rates, domestic demand, production costs, tariffs, and the business cycle.