U.S. Trade Deficit Widens To Ten-Year High In December
March 06 2019 - 4:32AM
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With imports jumping and exports slumping, the Commerce
Department released a report on Wednesday showing the U.S. trade
deficit widened by more than anticipated in the month of
December.
The Commerce Department said the trade deficit widened to $59.8
billion in December from a revised $50.3 billion in November.
Economists had expected the deficit to widen to $57.9 billion
from the $49.3 billion originally reported for the previous
month.
The substantial monthly increase drove the U.S. trade deficit to
its highest level since reaching $60.2 billion in October of
2008.
The trade deficit for 2018 was also the biggest since 2008,
widening to $621.0 billion from $552.3 billion in 2017 as President
Donald Trump ramped up his trade war with China.
The significantly wider trade deficit in December came as the
value of imports surged up by 2.1 percent to $264.9 billion, while
the value of exports tumbled by 1.9 percent to $205.1 billion.
While imports of capital and consumer goods showed notable
increases, exports of petroleum products and civilian aircraft fell
sharply during the month.
Andrew Hunter, Senior U.S. Economist at Capital Economics said
the data "confirms that net trade was a drag on GDP growth in
fourth quarter," adding, "We expect that drag to intensify in the
first quarter."
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