Financial News: U.S. Trade Deficit Widens To $60.3 Billion In

U.S. Trade Deficit Widens To $60.3 Billion In March, Roughly In Line With Estimates

(RTTNews) - With imports increasing by modestly more than exports, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing the U.S. trade deficit widened roughly in line with economist estimates in the month of March.

The Commerce Department said the trade deficit grew to $60.3 billion in March from a revised $57.8 billion in February.

Economists had expected the trade deficit to increase to $60.4 billion from the $57.3 billion originally reported for the previous month.

The wider trade deficit came as the value of imports surged by 2.3 percent to $381.2 billion in March after soaring by 4.4 percent to $372.4 billion in February.

Imports of automotive vehicles, parts and engines helped lead the way higher, while imports of consumer goods, capital goods and industrial supplies and materials also saw notable growth.

Meanwhile, the report said the value of exports jumped by 2.0 percent to $320.9 billion in March after spiking by 4.1 percent to $314.7 billion in February.

Exports of industrial supplies and materials saw a significant increase amid jumps in exports of crude oil and other petroleum products.

"High frequency data suggested the U.S. exports of crude oil and petroleum surged even higher in April, while imports of these goods declined due to the US/Israel-Iran war," said Grace Zwemmer, U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics. "Taken together, we expect to see a slight narrowing of the trade deficit next month."

The Commerce Department also said the goods deficit widened to $88.7 billion in March from $84.6 billion in February, while the services surplus rose to $28.4 billion in March from $26.8 billion in February.

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