The US trade deficit is a disappointment
2022.12.06 09:45
The US trade deficit is a disappointment
Budrigannews.com – Oil prices started to rise again in October, increasing the country’s import bill while exports were limited by the strong dollar, causing the U.S. deficit to widen for the second consecutive month.
While imports are still about 5% below their peak earlier in the year, they are still running at more than 20% above the rates seen prior to the pandemic, despite a wealth of evidence suggesting that consumers have largely switched back to spending patterns that are more skewed toward services.
Rose for the first time in four months to $334.80 billion, while falling slightly to $256.60 billion as the peaked at a 20-year high, leaving a deficit of $72.2 billion. As a result, they portray a general increase in demand in the United States as the holiday season approaches.
However, the breakdown of the figures by the Bureau of Economic Analysis revealed that retailers are still throttling back on some goods, particularly consumer goods, despite having overordered earlier in the year and being left with inventory they were unable to sell.
According to the BEA, imports of consumer goods decreased by $600 million from September, but imports of cell phones decreased by $2.0 billion and imports of toys decreased by $1.0 billion following an increase in orders prior to the holidays.
Apple’s (NASDAQ:) announcements suggest that the decline in cell phone shipments may continue into November. Foxconn, a contract manufacturer (TW:) this Monday As a second wave of protests against working conditions at its gigantic plant in Zhengzhou hit production, the Taiwanese company, which is also known as Hon Hai Precision, reported that its sales in November decreased by 29% from October.
According to the BEA, the deficit with China decreased by $6.0 billion in October as imports decreased by approximately 10% to $39.7 billion. On the other hand, the deficit with the European Union increased as a result of a rebound in exports from Europe and the resolution of issues that had hampered the supply chains of its factories in recent months.
