Trade Deficit in Goods Jump to All-Time High

Containers stacked high are seen at the Port of Los Angeles on September 28, 2021, in Los
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. trade deficit in goods soared in January to a new all-time high, beating the record high set just a month earlier.

The trade deficit rose 7.1 percent in January to $107.6 billion from a revised $100.5 billion in December.

Last year, the U.S. posted the highest-ever trade deficit. The trade deficit in goods topped $1 trillion for the first time.

The trade deficit subtracts from the gross domestic product and spending on imports means income does not get recycled back into the U.S. economy.

Economists at Goldman Sachs revised down their estimate of first-quarter growth to 1.5 percent from two percent following the release of the January deficit figure.

Imported goods rose by 1.8 percent in January to $262 billion, a record high. Exports of U.S.-made goods declined by 1.8 percent to $154.8 billion.

The U.S. economy has recovered at a faster pace than most economies around the world. That has resulted in U.S. imports rising faster than exports.

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