U.S. Trade Deficit Widens In November As Imports Rebound More Than Exports

(RTTNews) - With imports rebounding by more than exports, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing the U.S. trade deficit widened roughly in line with economist estimates in the month of November.

The Commerce Department the trade deficit increased to $78.2 billion in November from a revised $73.6 billion in October.

Economists had expected the trade deficit to climb to $78.0 billion from the $73.8 billion originally reported for the previous month.

"As expected, trade flows in both directions rebounded from October's declines, while a larger increase in imports pushed the trade deficit wider in November," said Matthew Martin, Senior U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

"However, net trade is on track to be slightly positive or neutral to GDP growth in Q4 - the first such occurrence since Q4 2023," he added. "There is still uncertainty baked into this forecast, though, with the potential for another dockworkers strike looming in mid-January."

The wider trade deficit came as the value of imports shot up by 3.4 percent to $351.6 billion in November after plunging by 3.9 percent to $339.9 billion in October.

The rebound by the value of imports partly reflected sharp increases by imports of industrial supplies and materials and capital goods.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said the value of exports jumped by 2.7 percent to $273.4 billion in November after slumping by 1.4 percent to $266.3 billion in October.

The report showed a surge by exports of industrial supplies and materials as well as increases by exports of automotive vehicles, parts and engines, capital goods and consumer goods.

The Commerce Department also said the goods deficit widened to $103.4 billion in November from $97.9 billion in October, while the services surplus rose to $25.2 billion in November from $24.3 billion in October.