Trade Gap Widens as Exports Fall to 4-Year Low
The trade deficit widened in December as stable U.S. domestic demand supported imports while weaker growth abroad held back overseas sales.
The gap increased 2.7 % to $43.4 billion from $42.2 billion in November, the Commerce Department reported Feb. 5 in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 65 economists called for a deficit of $43.2 billion.
Estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from trade gaps of $40 billion to $46.2 billion.
For all of 2015, the trade gap widened 4.6 % to $531.5 billion, the biggest since 2012. The U.S. petroleum deficit, adjusted for changes in prices, was the lowest ever.
China last year became the largest goods trading partner with the United States, while Canada dropped to second. The value of combined exports and imports with China was $598.1 billion in 2015.
After eliminating the effects of price fluctuations, which generates the numbers used to calculate GDP, the trade deficit widened to $60.3 billion in December from $59.2 billion a month earlier.
Imports increased 0.3 %, while exports decreased 0.3 % to $181.5 billion in December, the weakest since January 2012.
