Us Trade Deficit Jumps In February

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Us Trade Deficit Jumps In February

Us Trade Deficit Jumps By 1.9% During February

The month of February saw a jump in the imports made by the USA, which ended up offsetting the surge in exports during the same period. As a result of this, the US trade deficit widened once again for the 2nd month in a row.

Overall, a 1.9% increase was seen in the US trade deficit, which puts it around $68.9 billion, according to the relevant departments. Additionally, the data for the month of January was revised to a value of $67.6 billion.

If we look at the goods trade deficit by accounting for inflation, a jump of 1.2% was seen, which made it around $87 billion.

Exports Up By 2.3% In February

During the month of February, most of the goods which were imported ended up in the inventories. This means we can expect a slowdown in the imports during the next few months.

As for the impact on the economy, around 0.25% was added to the US GDP by trade. For the first quarter of 2024, experts believe that the growth rate will be around 2.8%.

look at the exports shows a jump of around 2.3%, which makes it around $263 billion. Overall, the exports of goods reached $176.7 billion with a change of +2.9%.

Additionally, the exports of industrial materials and supplies also recorded a healthy increase, including the crude oil. And if we look at food exports in particular, it showed a jump of $1.7 billion.

So, while the exports have gone up during the period, the value of imports was a lot more than that! As a result, the trade deficit of the USA widened instead of shrinking down.

Given the extreme amounts of debts taken by the US government, the current situation is nothing short of alarming. However, it appears that the authorities are more concerned with lifting the debt ceiling every few years instead of working on solving the trade imbalance issues.

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