The US trade deficit widened to a record level in 2021 as imports jumped sharply as businesses restocked shelves to meet robust domestic demand.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the trade deficit grew 27% last year, to an all-time high of $859.1 billion. The trade gap was $676.7 billion in 2020.
“The US trade picture will not return to normal until pandemic shopping starts to taper off and life goes back to what it was,” Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS in New York, told Reuters.
The trade gap represented 3.7% of gross domestic product, up from 3.2% in 2020. The economy grew 5.7% in 2021, the strongest pace since 1984, after the government provided nearly $6 trillion in aid for the pandemic, boosting consumer spending on goods.
The goods deficit soared 18.3% to a record $1.1 trillion last year. Imports of goods reached an all-time high of 1.8 trillion dollars, driven by purchases abroad of industrial supplies and materials.
Food imports were the highest ever recorded, as were purchases of capital and consumer goods. There were record imports from 70 countries in 2021, led by Mexico, Canada and Germany.
Strong growth in imports overshadowed a rebound in exports. Goods exports rose 23.3% to a record $1.8 trillion. Sales of supplies, industrial materials, food, consumer goods and oil also hit records.
The United States recorded record exports to 57 countries last year, led by Mexico, with an annual balance of 276.5 billion dollars, the government said.
The large trade deficit of the United States was one of the arguments of former US President Donald Trump to undertake a series of protectionist measures as of 2017. Some of these remain in force partially, such as tariffs of up to 15% on imports of products. Chinese that at the time had a value of more than 300,000 million dollars.
Also with the justification of the large trade deficit with its North American partners, Trump operated the negotiation of a new regional trade agreement, which meant the replacement of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by the United States-Mexico Agreement. -Canada (T-MEC).
Put into effect in 2020, the new T-MEC raised the regional content value of exports from the automotive sector from 62.5 to 75% and established new labor standards in Mexico. (with information from Reuters)
