By CountingPips.com
The United States trade deficit increased to its highest level in over a year as imports of crude oil rose in March, according to a release by the Commerce Department today. The U.S. trade deficit rose by 2.5 percent as the deficit registered $40.4 billion in March following a revised deficit of $39.4 billion in February. This brings the trade deficit to its highest level in 15 months. Market forecasts were expecting the deficit to rise to approximately $340.0 billion for the month.
The U.S. had a total of $147.9 billion worth of exports in March which was an increase of $4.6 billion over February’s total while March imports rose by $5.6 billion to a total of $182.7 billion worth of imports.
Contributing to the higher trade deficit was an increase in imports of crude oil products by 25.5 percent for the month. This marked the highest level of oil shipments since late 2008 as demand for oil has increased as the U.S. economic recovery progresses and as the prices for oil have also advanced.
The U.S. politically sensitive trade deficit with China increased to $16.9 billion from a deficit of $16.5 billion in February. Other notable U.S. trade deficits were with the European Union at a $7.1 billion, Japan at $5.3 billion, Mexico at $6.0 billion, OPEC at $9.1 billion and Germany at $2.7 billion.
U.S. trade surpluses with other countries included Australia at $1.2 billion, Hong Kong at $1.8 billion, Belgium at $0.7 billion.
