The United States trade deficit rose by a modest 6,3% to $57-billion in April, despite record sales of exports, including civilian aircraft, the government said on Friday.
Wall Street was expecting the shortfall to widen to $58-billion, compared with a revised $53,6-billion in March. The first figure reported for March by the Commerce Department was $55-billion.
US companies sold a record amount of goods overseas in April, but on the flip side, American consumers and businesses bought a record amount of imported goods.
Exports rose 3% to a record $106,4-billion in April. But imports rose by a faster 4,1% to $163,4-billion, also a new high, mostly because of record crude oil prices.
The politically contentious US trade deficit with China widened to $14,7-billion in April, compared with $12-billion in the same month last year.
Imports of Chinese textiles, a particularly sensitive issue this year following the scrapping of global quotas on textile products, are up 51,7% in the year to date, the Commerce Department said.
Exports of US goods alone rose 4,2% to $74,5-billion in April, led by farm produce. Exports of civilian aircraft jumped 40,8% to $3,21-billion.
On the import side, US businesses bought a record amount of industrial supplies — mostly petroleum and capital goods. The US imported $19,4-billion of crude oil in April, the second-highest amount on record.
The overall US trade deficit is down from a record high of $60,6-billion reached in February. — Sapa-AFP