Washington, DC, March 11--The trade deficit widened in January by 4.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted $58.3 billion, according to the Commerce Department. January’s deficit was the second highest on record.
December's trade gap was revised down to $55.7 billion, it had been originally estimated as $56.4 billion.
The Commerce Department reported that imports rose 1.9 percent to a record $159.1 billion, while exports gained 0.4 percent to a record $100.8 billion.
Economists were expecting the gap to widen to $56.5 billion in January.
For all of 2004, the U.S. booked a record trade deficit of $617.1 billion, or 5.3 percent of gross domestic product.
Total imports from China increased 1.9 percent in January. Chinese imports rose 27 percent year-over-year.
