U.S. trade deficit hits record high in March

Data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce on the 4th showed that due to the surge in imports of goods, the U.S. trade deficit in goods and services in March increased by 22.3% month-on-month to $109.8 billion, a record high.

Data show that in March, the value of imports of goods and services to the United States increased by 10.3% month-on-month to $351.5 billion, a record high; the value of exports of goods and services increased by 5.6% month-on-month to $241.7 billion.

That month, the U.S. merchandise trade deficit increased by $20.4 billion month-on-month to $128.1 billion, of which merchandise imports rose sharply to $298.8 billion, reflecting the impact of soaring global oil and other commodity prices since the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Specifically, in March, U.S. industrial supplies and materials imports increased by $11.3 billion month-on-month, of which crude oil imports increased by $1.2 billion.

Analysts believe that as the new crown epidemic is still spreading around the world and supply chain problems continue to plague global trade, it will be difficult to change the inflation trend of the US trade deficit in the short term, or it will continue to drag on the economic recovery.