The U.S. trade deficit decreased slightly in June, to $37.16 billion, but that’s still the second-largest deficit on record, as the demand for imports reached its highest level in 15 months.
The Commerce Department said the imbalance between what America sells abroad and what the country imports slipped 1.8 percent from the record $37.84 billion set in May.
The tally for June means the second quarter had the three highest monthly deficits on record, which helped boost the deficit for the first six months to $206.01 billion, an increase of $15.52 billion, or 8.1 percent, from the same period in 2001. If current trends hold, the deficit for the year would be a record $412 billion. Last year, it was $358.3 billion.
Exports totaled $82.02 billion in June, up 1.7 percent from May and the highest level since August 2001. The biggest gains were in sales of farm products, which rose by $269 million, and computer chips, which increased by $222 million.
Imports rose to $119.2 billion, the highest level since March 2001 but an increase of only 0.5 percent from May.
But economists saw some hope in the fact that both rose for the month.
“The trade deficit may be outrageously wide, but the rise in both exports and imports points to continued economic growth both in the U.S. and around the world,” said Joel Naroff, head of Naroff Economic Advisors, an economic forecasting firm in Holland, Pa.
Other analysts noted that June marked the fourth straight month that exports have risen, helped by a 7 percent drop in the value of the dollar since February, making U.S. goods cheaper and thus more competitive in overseas markets.
Jerry Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, said the combination of a weaker dollar and stronger growth overseas “should boost export prospects for American manufacturers and aid the ongoing but still sluggish industrial recovery.”
William Dunkelberg, chief economist for the National Federation of Independent Business, blamed the deficit on the initial impact of a weakening dollar, which boosts exports but also raises the price of imports.
“Eventually, the rise in the price of imports will mean American consumers will buy less of these goods, but that takes time to occur,” he said.
The U.S. recorded its biggest deficit with China, an imbalance of $8.5 billion, the widest gap since last October. The jump occurred even though exports to China hit a record $2.2 billion.
The deficit with Japan jumped 9 percent, to $5.3 billion, while the deficit with Canada, America’s biggest trading partner, narrowed 18.9 percent, to $3.4 billion.
