The US trade deficit in goods and services fell 6.8% in January from a month earlier, as both exports and imports showed a decreased – with China seeing its gap narrow slightly.
The deficit amounted to US$45.3bn for the month, down $3.3bn from December. January exports were $208.6bn, $0.9bn less than December, while imports were $4.2bn less at $253.9bn.
The largest deficits were recorded with China ($23.7bn), the European Union ($13.5bn), and Mexico ($9.2bn). A deficit of $0.7bn was recorded with Canada.
The deficit with China dropped $2.1bn in January. Exports increased $0.2bn to $7.7bn and imports declined $1.8bn to $31.4bn.
Surpluses for the month of January were recorded with South and Central America ($5.8bn), Hong Kong ($1.8bn), Brazil ($1.7bn), and the UK ($1.6bn).
Last week, a group of US trade bodies – including those that represent the clothing and footwear industries – joined forces to urge the US government to scrap tariffs on Chinese goods as part of its “emergency response” in fighting the negative impact to the US economy of the coronavirus impact.
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By GlobalDataData released earlier this month by the Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) shows US apparel import volumes jumped in January as retailers brought in extra inventory before Asia’s Lunar New Year shut-down. But compared with the same month last year, declines were seen in seven of the top ten supplier countries – with the biggest double-digit drop seen by China.
