Trade Deficit Hits All-Time High in Feb. ($61.04 billion for month)

[papau]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=716&e=9&u=/ap/20050412/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy

Trade Deficit Hits All-Time High in Feb.

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON - The U.S. trade deficit, exacerbated by surging imports of oil and textiles, soared to an all-time high of $61.04 billion in February.

The Commerce Department said the February imbalance was up 4.3 percent from a $58.5 billion trade gap in January as a small $50 million rise in U.S. exports of goods and services was swamped by a $2.58 billion increase in imports.
<snip>

[cthrumatrix]

1. Trade Deficit Hits All-Time High in Feb. (more Oil and it costs more)

Trade Deficit Hits All-Time High in Feb.

9 minutes ago

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON - The U.S. trade deficit, exacerbated by surging imports of oil and textiles, soared to an all-time high of $61.04 billion in February.


The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the February imbalance was up 4.3 percent from a $58.5 billion trade gap in January as a small $50 million rise in U.S. exports of goods and services was swamped by a $2.58 billion increase in imports.

snip

Trade deficits of this magnitude have raised worries among economists about America's ability to continue to attract the foreign financing needed to cover the shortfall between exports and imports. If foreigners decided to hold fewer dollar-denominated investments such as stocks and bonds, it could trigger steep declines in U.S. stock prices and a sharp increase in interest rates.


Critics point to the soaring deficits as evidence that President Bush's free trade policies are not working and have instead contributed to the loss of 3 million American manufacturing jobs since 2000.
snip

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=&e=9&u=/ap/20050412/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy

[djack23]

2. Ouch

50 million rise in US exports is pretty bad. Tough times ahead.

The Quadruple Problems of:

1) Budget (Deficit & Debt)
2) US Trade Deficit
3) Consumer Debt
4) Housing Bubble (in selected cities)

will hurt the US economy going foward. Does our president understand this? Does he have a plan? Probably not. No.

[Festivito]

3. That's over $200 per American per month, over $2500 a year.

I've not thought about it.
Chilean grapes.
Cars, and
car parts.
Canadian wood.
CLOTHES.
TV's Radios electronic appliances
Mexican appliances

I guess it does add up.

[djack23]

5. Nice calculations

Ouch. That's a real lot. We are undoubtly in trouble.


David

[Festivito]

7. What's worse. That's right in line with what CONs BORROW.

Over $500 billion this year, again. That'll be around $2000 per American. The first four years of Bush racked just over $1500 per American each year.

On our credit card account.

Where will we get money to pay for SS? Even to borrow for SS, when our credit limit is capped by OTHER COUNTRIES.

[Up2Late]

4. Trade Gap Widens More Than Expected (Reuters)

Trade Gap Widens More Than Expected

Tue Apr 12, 2005 08:34 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - as the U.S. economy sucked in record imports, the government said on Tuesday in a new report. The trade gap widened 4.3 percent from January, despite a slight increase in exports to a record $100.5 billion. The monthly shortfall was greater than the median estimate of $59 billion from Wall Street analysts. The unexpectedly large jump in the trade gap is likely to cause analysts to trim their estimates for first-quarter economic growth.

U.S. exports continued to be strong, exceeding $100 billion for the third consecutive month. Higher shipments of industrial supplies and materials and consumers goods more than offset declines in capital goods and autos. Imports set records in several categories - including autos and auto parts, consumer goods and industrial supplies and materials - in a sign of strong U.S. demand. A jump in average monthly crude oil import prices to $36.85 per barrel propelled the value of petroleum and product imports to the second highest level on record, despite the lowest volume of crude oil in a year. Overall imports from China dipped to $17.0 billion in February, the lowest level since June, and the U.S. trade deficit with China also fell to $13.9 billion, the lowest since May.

However, in a sector causing political difficulties for the Bush administration, imports of clothing and textiles from the Asian manufacturing giant jumped 9.8 percent in February following the end of U.S. import quotas in January. Total clothing and textile imports from China for the first two months of 2005 surged 62.4 percent from the same period last year. Earlier this month, the Commerce Department launched an investigation expected to lead to emergency import curbs on some clothing from China. U.S. producers plan to file petitions asking for additional restrictions.

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

[moondust]

6. And this with a weak dollar.

Hmmmmmm.....