September 12, 2009
The U.S. trade deficit jumped 16.3 percent to 32 billion dollars in July, the highest level in six months, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
The July deficit was much higher than the 27.4 billion dollars expected by economists.
The higher trade deficit came as the global recession cut sharply into sales of American exports, while crude oil prices hit the highest level since December.
For July, exports of goods and services climbed 2.2 percent to 127.6 billion dollars but imports shot up 4.7 percent to 159.6 billion dollars, the largest monthly advance on records that go back to 1992.
U.S. oil imports climbed 3.6 percent to 23.7 billion, the highest level since December.
Economists expect the trade deficit to shrink significantly this year as the recession depresses demand for imported products.