U.S. March Trade Deficit Hits $60.3 Billion, Up 4.4% From Previous Month

Deficit Widens but Falls Short of Forecast

In March, the U.S. trade deficit increased compared to the previous month.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce on May 5 (local time), the U.S. goods and services trade deficit for March was recorded at $60.3 billion. This figure is up 4.4% from the previous month’s $57.8 billion. However, it fell short of the expert forecast of $60.9 billion compiled by Dow Jones.

Exports totaled $320.9 billion, up $6.2 billion (2.0%) from the previous month. In particular, exports of crude oil and other petroleum products increased by $2.8 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively.

Imports amounted to $381.2 billion, an increase of $8.7 billion (2.3%) from the previous month. Imports of automobiles and engines (up $3.6 billion), and capital goods including computer accessories (up $2.1 billion), led the overall increase in imports.

The goods deficit stood at $88.7 billion, up $4.1 billion from the previous month, while the services sector posted a surplus of $28.4 billion, expanding the surplus by $1.6 billion.

By country, the largest deficits were with Taiwan ($20.6 billion) and Vietnam ($19.2 billion), followed by Mexico, China, the European Union (EU), Germany, and South Korea. The deficit with South Korea was $4.8 billion.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.