US Trade Deficit Grows due to Increased Imports

The trade deficit widened sharply in May, as stronger U.S. demand pulled in more imports from China and the rest of the world and sluggish growth abroad pushed exports lower, a U.S. government reported showed on Wednesday.

The trade gap swelled more than 12 percent to $45.0 billion from a revised $40.1 billion in April, the biggest month-to-month increase in two years, the Commerce Department said.

Analysts surveyed before the report had expected the May deficit to narrow slightly to $40.1 billion, from the previously reported April figure of $40.3 billion.

The widening of the trade gap could prompt analysts to lower their estimates of second-quarter U.S. growth.

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza