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Trade conflicts instigated: new vehicles from the US car brand Jeep in China
Photo: Wenjun Chen/ DPA
The US trade deficit hit a record high in January.
Imports exceeded exports by $89.7 billion, the Washington Department of Commerce said.
This is the highest value ever determined.
In December it was still $82.0 billion.
The increase was also stronger than expected.
Analysts had expected an average deficit of $87.3 billion.
Falling exports and rising imports led to an increase in the deficit.
While imports increased by 1.2 percent on the previous month, exports fell by 1.7 percent.
Above all, higher imports of capital goods, consumer goods and crude oil led to an increase in imports.
The US trade deficit is chronic.
Imports are consistently higher than exports.
The United States is a typical net importing country.
They finance the deficit through foreign loans.
The capital markets in the USA are attractive, also because the United States has the world's leading currency, the dollar.
Former US President Donald Trump took the traditionally high deficit as a sign that his country was being ripped off by other countries - and therefore instigated trade conflicts, for example with China.
However, this has not changed the enormous trade deficit: in 2021, imports exceeded exports by more than 859 billion dollars.
kig/dpa/Reuters
