WASHINGTON – The U.S. international trade deficit jumped to a seasonally adjusted $46.3 billion in January, the biggest trade imbalance since June, as petroleum imports were the largest in more than two years, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
January’s total imports of goods and services jumped by $10.5 billion, or 5.2%. Imports of industrial supplies and petroleum were the highest since October 2008, while capital goods and food imports were the highest on record.
Oil imports increased as the price per barrel of crude jumped in January to $84.34, the highest since October 2008. The price of crude oil has increased for four months and rose by $4.56 from December, the largest month-over-month increase in more than a year. In 2010, a barrel of oil averaged $74.66.
Exports increased by $4.4 billion, or 2.7%, to a record amount in January, but were outpaced by the rise in imports. U.S. exports of food, industrial supplies and petroleum were the highest on record.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected a $41.5 billion trade deficit, according to the median estimate.
December’s trade deficit was revised lower to $40.3 billion from $40.6 billion reported last month.
The larger trade imbalance may suck the wind out of first quarter U.S. gross domestic product growth. Trade contributed to the GDP growth in the fourth quarter for the first time in a year. The last time the trade deficit was this high was in the second quarter of 2010, when the trade imbalance subtracted 3.5 percentage points from GDP growth.
The U.S. trade deficit with China was $23.3 billion in January, the largest since November. Imports from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, were the highest since October 2008.
