US December trade gap widens to US 40.6 bln
Baku, February 12 (AZERTAC). The US trade deficit grew in December as imports rose at the fastest pace since June, while the politically sensitive gap with China hit a record for the year, official data shows
Despite a solid rise in US exports, the data on Friday showed that a surge in consumer spending and a jump in commodity prices help hike the country`s imports bill.
The Commerce Department reported the country`s trade deficit in goods and services rose to a seasonally adjusted $US40.6 billion ($A40.49 billion), from $US38.3 billion in November.
The rise was a tick higher than the $40.4 billion expected by most analysts, but remained below the 2010 peak of $50.0 billion in June
Both import and export volumes rose, reflecting growth in a recovering global economy led by China and other major emerging economies.
President Barack Obama`s plan to double exports by 2015 to help to spur jobs creation appeared to get a boost after December exports surged to the highest level in more than two-and-a-half years
The US sold $US163.0 billion ($A162.56 billion) in goods and services to foreign countries in December, up 1.8 per cent from the prior month.
Exports of goods, at $US115.5 billion ($A115.19 billion), were the strongest since August 2008, the month before the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy brought the nation`s troubled financial system to the brink of collapse.
But imports increased at the fastest pace since June, by 2.6 per cent to $US203.5 billion ($A202.95 billion), crossing the $US200 billion ($A199.46 billion) threshold for the first time since that month.
Amid rising oil and commodity prices, imports of foods, feeds and beverages hit an all-time peak of $US8 billion ($A7.98 billion).
Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors noted more than 80 per cent of the import goods rise came from crude oil, petroleum and fuel oil purchases.
Though the trade gap with China shrank 19 per cent to $US20.7 billion ($A20.64 billion), for all of 2010, it swelled to $US273.1 billion ($A272.36 billion), topping the 2008 record of $US268 billion.
For the second year running China surpassed Canada as the largest seller of goods to the United States.
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