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U.S. Trade Deficit Hits 14-Year High at $67.1B
The Commerce Department reported on Tuesday the U.S. trade deficit climbed 5.9% in August to $67.1 billion, an increase of $3.7 billion from July. That is the highest level the gap between the goods and services the U.S. sells and what it buys abroad has been in 14 years.
August exports were $171.9 billion, $3.6 billion more than July exports. August imports were $239 billion, $7.4 billion more than July. The deficit with China fell 6.7% to $26.4 billion in August.
The Commerce Dept. noted the biggest factor impacting the export numbers was a surge in soybean shipments. Though purchases of crude oil, cars and auto parts drove the numbers up 3.2% on the import side.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement on Tuesday, “In spite of the pandemic, our goods deficit is down 2.4% year-to-date. The goods deficit would have decreased by at least 6% but for a large spike in gold imports reflecting risk-hedging strategies during the pandemic, not underlying economics.”
He pointed out the 19% drop so far this year in the U.S. services surplus was largely attributed to reduced tourism, travel and transport.
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- ◦Economy
