USA: in October the trade deficit continues to increase

The US trade deficit widened further in October, under the combined effect of a decline in exports and an increase in imports, mainly of raw materials, according to data released Tuesday by the Commerce Department.

The goods and services deficit with the rest of the world was $78.2 billion (CHF73.4 billion), up 5.4% from August, with exports down 0.7% and an increase in imports of 0.6%.

The US Department takes the opportunity to revise the data for September, with a deficit now estimated at 74.1 billion dollars, against the 73.3 billion initially announced.

For the month of October, the trade deficit is slightly higher than expected by analysts, who were expecting $77.2 billion according to the consensus published by briefing.com.

This is the second consecutive month of widening of the deficit, while the first months of the year were instead characterized by a continuous reduction of the same.

Over the past three months, the average trade deficit now stands at $72.7 billion, up $2.5 billion, confirming the trend reversal from the rest of the year.

On an annual basis, the trade deficit for the past twelve months increased by 19.9%, equal to 136.9 billion dollars, compared to the same data a year earlier.

In detail, exports of goods decreased by 3.6 billion dollars, mainly due to a drop in the prices of natural gas and oil, partially offset by an increase in exports of services, primarily tourism.

On the import side, the increase in imports of goods was $2.6 billion, driven by both imports of raw materials and auto parts, while imports of services declined, also driven by the dollar.

While China is still the US’s largest trading partner, the goods trade deficit with its rival is still declining, dropping from $32.1 billion in September to $26.1 billion the following month.

The deficit with the European Union is up sharply by 7.1 billion dollars in one month, to reach 23.1 billion dollars in October.