Washington-SANA
The balance of the US trade deficit rose to its highest level in 12 years last year as the Corona pandemic disrupted flows of goods and services in the US foreign trade.
Reuters quoted the US Commerce Department as saying today that "the trade deficit jumped 17.7 percent to 678.7 billion dollars last year, the highest since 2008."
Exports of goods and services also fell 15.7 percent to their lowest levels since 2010, and imports of goods and services fell 9.5 percent to the lowest level in four years.
The decline in exports contributed to the economy contracting by 3.5 percent last year, the largest decline in gross domestic product since 1946.
For the month of December, the trade deficit shrank by 3.54 percent to $ 66.6 billion.
Goods imports rose 1.5 percent to 217.7 billion dollars in December, while merchandise exports jumped 4.7 percent to 133.5 billion dollars.