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I don’t have time to research the numbers, but I thought one of you might have this answer at your finger tips.

Do these import/export numbers include fuel (oil, gasoline, diesel, Nat Gas, etc)?

If so, what is our trade balance without the fuel number included?

I've likewise wondered that before but never had the time to research it. Following are the numbers from the Bureau of Economic Analysis:

      TRADE DEFICIT IN GOODS VS. PETROLEUM PRODUCT IMPORTS
                     (billions of dollars)

                                   Imports of            Deficit
       Imports   Exports   Deficit petroleum      % of w/o petro
Year  of goods  of goods  of goods  products   deficit  products
---- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
1978     176.0    1420.8      33.9      42.6     125.4      -8.6
1979     212.0    1844.4      27.6      60.4     219.2     -32.9
1980     249.8    2242.5      25.5      79.5     311.8     -54.0
1981     265.1    2370.4      28.0      78.4     279.7     -50.4
1982     247.6    2111.6      36.5      62.0     169.8     -25.5
1983     268.9    2018.0      67.1      55.1      82.1      12.0
1984     332.4    2199.3     112.5      58.1      51.6      54.4
1985     338.1    2159.2     122.2      51.4      42.1      70.8
1986     368.4    2233.4     145.1      34.3      23.6     110.8
1987     409.8    2502.1     159.6      42.9      26.9     116.6
1988     447.2    3202.3     127.0      39.6      31.2      87.3
1989     477.7    3599.2     117.7      50.9      43.2      66.8
1990     498.4    3874.0     111.0      62.3      56.1      48.7
1991     491.0    4140.8      76.9      51.7      67.2      25.2
1992     536.5    4396.3      96.9      51.6      53.2      45.3
1993     589.4    4569.4     132.5      51.5      38.9      81.0
1994     668.7    5028.6     165.8      51.3      30.9     114.6
1995     749.4    5752.0     174.2      56.0      32.2     118.1
1996     803.1    6121.1     191.0      72.7      38.1     118.3
1997     876.8    6783.7     198.4      71.8      36.2     126.7
1998     918.6    6704.2     248.2      50.9      20.5     197.3
1999    1031.8    6839.7     347.8      67.8      19.5     280.0
2000    1226.7    7719.9     454.7     120.3      26.5     334.4
2001    1148.2    7187.1     429.5     103.6      24.1     325.9
2002    1167.4    6824.2     485.0     103.5      21.3     381.5
2003    1264.3    7134.2     550.9     133.1      24.2     417.8
2004    1477.1    8075.2     669.6     180.5      27.0     489.1
2005    1681.8    8946.3     787.1     251.9      32.0     535.3
2006    1861.4   10231.1     838.3     302.4      36.1     535.8

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. International Transactions Accounts Data,
        Table 2a and Table 2b

As you can see, the total value of petroleum product imports was just about 36 percent of the trade deficit (in goods) in 2006. Put another way, if we had been given all of our petroleum product imports for free, we would have still run a $536 billion dollar trade deficit. Hence, we cannot blame the trade deficit on the high price of oil. Of course, our dependence on imported oil may have costs beyond the direct cost to the trade deficit. Some suggest that the war in Iraq is one of those costs. But the trade deficit cannot be directly blamed on our dependence on imported oil, much less its current high cost.