U.S. Goods Trade Deficit Hits Major New Record in 2018

U.S. Goods Trade Deficit Hits Major New Record in 2018
By Michael Stumo

Overvalued dollar drives record U.S. deficits with China, rest of world

Annual data released yesterday by the Commerce Department shows that America’s overall trade balance continued to worsen in 2018. Not only did the United States record its highest-ever global trade deficit in goods - at $891.3 billion - but the annual goods deficit with China soared to a stunning new record of $419.2 billion. The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) attributes the rising trade debt to an increasingly noncompetitive dollar, a fast-growing U.S. economy, and a surge in imports intended to beat last year’s tariffs. And all of it comes even as President Trump’s trade measures begin to impact overall U.S. trade flows. [more...]

U.S. Trade Deficit Hits $621B in 2018; Goods Deficit & China Deficit Hit New Records

By Jeff Ferry, CPA Chief Economist

Data published yesterday by the Department of Commerce show that U.S. trade figures continued to worsen in 2018, in response to the strengthening dollar, a fast-growing U.S. economy, and a surge in imports to front-run last year’s tariffs, while President Trump’s trade measures are taking time to have an impact on the trade data. The trade deficit in December leapt 18.8 percent to reach $59.8 billion. That meant that 2018 ended up with a full-year deficit of $621 billion, up 12.5 percent on the previous year and our worst trade deficit in a decade. Those figures are bad, but even more worrying is the goods balance. Our trade deficit in goods for 2018 came in at $891.3 billion, up 10.4 percent from 2017 and the worst goods deficit in U.S. and world history. Our goods deficit is now larger than the entire GDP of 163 nations in the UN. [more...]