US visible trade deficit rises in June due to petroleum imports
America's shortfall on trade in goods with the rest of the world continued widening last month.
Preliminary figures from the Department of Commerce showed the visible trade deficit increasing at a month-on-month pace of 3.5% to reach $91.2bn.
Consensus had been for a dip in the deficit to -88.1bn.
Exports increased by $0.5bn versus May to reach $145.5bn while imports jumped by $3.5bn to $236.7bn.
However, excluding the erratic industrial supplies component, which includes petroleum, then the deficit did fall a bit, Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics pointed out.
Indeed, Shepherdson believed the core deficit had peaked, having now fallen from $92.8bn in March to $88.0bn.
That was in comparison to about $70bn pre-Covid, as the economic recovery in the US had outpaced that of most other countries.
That had left imports approximately 12.0% above their level from before the pandemic while exports were at roughly the same level.
"The gap should narrow as global growth recovers and the flow of U.S. stimulus spending slows."