the difference, measured in US dollars, between a country's receipts or imports from the United States (or dollar area country) and its payments or exports to those countries
dollar gap in American English
noun
the difference, measured in U.S. dollars, between the earnings of a foreign country through sales and investments in the U.S. and the payments made by that country to the U.S.
Also called: dollar shortage, dollar deficit
Word origin
[1945–50]This word is first recorded in the period 1945–50. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: RNA, beeper, ergative, shootout, synchronized swimming