The U.S. goods and services deficit fell 2.5% in June to $73.1 billion, but that was still the third highest monthly deficit number this year, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Tuesday.
The goods and services deficit for May rose a tad to $75 billion, up 0.8% from the previous month.
The monthly goods and services trade deficit between the U.S. and the rest of the world has skyrocketed by a whopping 8.7% to $74.6 billion in April, putting the month well above the three month trend line.
While the month-over-month goods deficit with China fell by around $3.7 billion, the deficit with Mexico rose by $2 billion over the same period.
January 2024 posted a 5.4% gain in the monthly goods and services deficit, rising to $67.4 billion, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported today.
The annual trade deficit has fallen. Yet for 2023, our trade deficit of $773 billion was once again the world’s largest. Our goods deficit, at $1.06 trillion, exceeded a trillion dollars for the third year in a row.
The Wall Street Journal has started 2024 bemoaning tariffs. They are for losers, the WSJ Inside View columnist Andy Kessler wrote in December, ending 2023 with a taste of what is expected to come this year, an election year.
The U.S. trade deficit fell by 2% in November over the previous month, with both exports and imports relatively flat ahead of the holiday season.
The October trade deficit rose, but the biggest takeaway from the latest data is how much the China goods gap is in decline this year.
The September trade deficit rose over August with no end in sight to a record breaking goods gap led by imports from China, the EU and Mexico.
