US trade gap shot up 19 per cent in December

WASHINGTON – The U.S. trade deficit jumped nearly 19 per cent in December, pushing the trade imbalance for all of 2018 to widen to a decade-long high of $621 billion.

The Commerce Department says the gap between what the United States sells and what it buys from other countries rose to $59.8 billion in December from $50.3 billion in November.

President Donald Trump imposed tariffs last year on foreign steel, aluminum and Chinese products on the belief that these import taxes would ultimately reduce the trade imbalance. But the trade gap on goods surged to record highs last year with China ($419.2 billion), Mexico ($81.5 billion) and the European Union ($169.3 billion).

December’s trade imbalance worsened because U.S. imports rose 2.1 per cent, while exports to other countries fell 1.9 per cent.