By CountingPips.com
The United States trade deficit increased to its highest level in over a year as demand for imports rose in May, according to a release by the Commerce Department today. The U.S. trade deficit rose by 4.8 percent as the deficit registered $42.3 billion in May following a revised deficit of $40.3 billion in April. This brings the trade deficit to its highest level since November of 2008.
Market forecasts were expecting the deficit to edge lower to approximately $39.2 billion for the month.
The U.S. had a total of $152.3 billion worth of exports in May which was an increase of $3.5 billion over April’s total of $148.7 billion. May imports rose by $5.5 billion to a total of $194.5 billion from $189.0 billion in April.
Contributing to the higher trade deficit was an increase in the imports of goods by $4.9 billion for the month. The U.S. had a trade deficit in goods by $1.9 billion in May while a U.S. surplus in services stood almost unchanged at $12.2 billion.
The U.S. politically sensitive trade deficit with China increased to $22.3 billion from a deficit of $19.3 billion in April while other notable U.S. trade deficits were with the European Union at a $6.2 billion, Japan at $3.6 billion, Mexico at $6.2 billion, OPEC at $7.8 billion and Germany at $2.9 billion.
U.S. trade surpluses with other countries included Australia at $1.1 billion, Hong Kong at $1.6 billion, Singapore at $0.9 billion and Egypt at $0.3 billion.
