Dock in New York's Staten Island

Despite a slowdown in the U.S. economy, the amount of goods the United States ships overseas recently increased. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. exports in the second quarter of 2008 expanded at an annualized rate of nine-point-two percent, thanks in large part to a decline in the value of the dollar against other currencies Many U.S. exporters are benefiting from the weak dollar, which makes American goods cheaper abroad, and boosts U.S. firms' profits when they convert overseas earnings back into dollars. But as Nathan King reports for VOA, it is not just large global corporations that are benefiting.