WASHINGTON - The U.S. trade deficit fell in October to the narrowest in seven months as a labor dispute closed West Coast ports and companies imported capital goods at the slowest pace in four years, the government reported yesterday.

The $35.1 billion trade gap in goods and services followed a $37.1 billion shortfall in September, the Commerce Department said. Exports fell for a third straight month, and imports declined 2.4 percent. Inbound shipments of computer accessories, telecommunications equipment and semiconductors dropped.

"The electronics business is still in the doldrums," said Joel Girsky, chairman of Jaco Electronics Inc. in Hauppage, N.Y., which distributes imported computer chips and electronic products from such companies as South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. "All of our inventories continue to be reduced."

U.S. imports of capital goods in October dropped to $22.1 billion, the lowest since August 1998, from $23.6 billion. The decline reflects the reluctance of businesses to purchase new equipment until profits grow, economists said. FedEx Corp., the world's largest overnight delivery service, said it plans to reduce its capital spending by $200 million in fiscal 2003.

Capital goods shipments in the month were 7 percent below the monthly average of $23.8 billion in the first nine months of the year.

The port shutdown in early October slowed imports of consumer goods from countries such as China, Taiwan and Korea. West Coast ports were closed for 10 days starting Sept. 29 when union workers were locked out by shippers in a labor dispute. President Bush obtained a court order to open the ports before the holiday shopping season.

Shippers complained that even after the shutdown ended Oct. 9, dockworkers intentionally slowed operations in the following weeks. The 29 ports in California, Oregon and Washington handle about $300 billion worth of cargo a year, including imports from Asia for U.S. retailers and manufacturers.

"Over the next six months we should see decent import growth because demand is growing and inventories are lean and need to be rebuilt," said James O'Sullivan, an economist at UBS Warburg LLC, the third-largest underwriter of U.S. agency debt, in Stamford, Conn..

Shipments to the United States of consumer goods dropped 4.9 percent to $25 billion in October.

Exports fell 1 percent to $82 billion from $82.8 billion in September. The drop was due to fewer exports of capital goods and autos. Exports were up from $77.5 billion in October 2001.