PAYMENTS FOR WAR ERASE U.S. TRADE GAP.(Business)

Byline: Martin Crutsinger Associated Press

The United States posted its first quarterly trade surplus in nearly nine years during the first three months of the year, but only because of $22.7 billion in foreign payments for the Persian Gulf war, the government said Tuesday.

The Commerce Department said the rare $10.2 billion surplus in the current account, the broadest measure of the country's trading performance, would not have occurred without the contributions from Saudi Arabia, Japan and other countries.

However, the government noted that country's trade performance also was aided by an all-time high in U.S. export sales and a drop in imports …