US Trade Deficit Hold Close to Record at $89.2B in Feb. as Services Surplus Shrinks

The US trade deficit remained close to a record-high in February as the merchandise shortfall contract and the surplus in services fell.

• The February gap in goods and services trade was largely unchanged at $89.2 billion after a record fall in January. The average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for an $88.5B February shortfall.
• The value of imports of goods and services jumped 1.3% in February to a record $317.8 billion, and exports rose 1.8% to $228.6 billion.
• Services imports grew by $2.4 billion to a record-high $51.6 billion, with nearly 50% of the increase coming from the biggest monthly jump in charges for the use of intellectual property since 2016.
• Meanwhile, goods imports also expanded, signaling an increase in industrial supplies such as crude oil and chemicals that more than offset a decline in automobiles.

On an inflation-adjusted basis, the February merchandise-trade deficit shrank to $116.3 billion from $117.9 billion.

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Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis