Trade Gap Widens in December
The nation's trade gap widened by 5.3% in December to $61.2 billion, the Commerce Department said.
Analysts had expected the deficit to increase to $59.5 billion.
The Commerce Department cut its estimate of the November trade deficit slightly to $58.1 billion from the initial estimate of $58.2 billion. This was the lowest trade deficit since July 2005.
The higher deficit in December ends a string of three months of narrower deficits, which economists say was mainly caused by lower prices for imported oil.
Despite the improvement in September through November, for all of 2006, the U.S. posted a record trade deficit of $763.6 billion. This compared with a deficit of $716.7 billion. But in a sign that the trade gap could be stabilizing, the deficit was 5.8% of gross domestic product in 2006, the same percentage as in 2005.
The trade gap with China rose to a record $232.5 billion in 2006, up from $201.5 billion last year.
The U.S. also set record trade deficits with Japan and Mexico in 2006.
In December, imports rose faster than exports. As economists had forecast, imports of petroleum products rose sharply and exports of civilian aircraft declined.
Imports increased 2.1% to $186.7 billion. December exports rose 0.6% to $125.5 billion.
Imports of goods alone rose 3.8% to $186.7 billion.
The U.S. imported a record amount of autos and auto parts and consumer goods.
Exports of goods alone rose 0.4% to $89.4 billion.
The U.S. exported a record amount of consumer goods in December.
The petroleum deficit widened 10.5% to a $20.7 billion in December.
The value of U.S. oil imports rose to $15.8 billion in December from $15.6 billion in November as the price of a barrel of oil rose to $53.84 from $52.25 in November. The quantity of crude imports fell to 9.5 million barrels from 10.0 million in the previous month.
The deficit with China widened to $19.0 billion in December from $16.2 billion in the same month last year. The trade gap was $22.9 billion in November.