U.S. Trade Deficit Widens to Record-High on Higher Consumer-Goods Imports

The U.S. trade deficit worsened to a record-high in August, signaling an increase in the value of imports of consumer goods and industrial supplies.

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce

DXY up +0.23%, EUR USD down -0.29%

The gap in trade of goods and services rose 4.2% to $73.3 billion, from a revised $70.3 billion in July.

The value of goods and services imports jumped 1.4% to a record $287 billion in August. The U.S. imported $3 billion more consumer goods during the month, largely due to pharmaceuticals and toys, games, and sporting goods. Exports rose 0.5% to $213.7 billion.

The merchandise-trade deficit widened to $89.5 billion from $87.8 billion. The nation’s surplus in service trade dropped to $16.2 billion.

While a sharp increase in household demand for products earlier this year has left inventories extremely lean, the reopening of the economy is slowly boosting demand for services.

At the same moment, local producers have suffered from increasing output because logistics bottlenecks have disrupted the global supply chains, leading to backups at ports, material shortages, and rising shipping rates.