US trade deficit rises despite record American exports

The US trade deficit widened in February for the sixth straight month, hitting a fresh nine-and-a-half-year record even though US exports were at an all-time high, official data showed today.

The broadening gap comes as President Donald Trump pursues an increasingly fraught battle with the world's largest economies to right the yawning US trade imbalance, sparking fears of a trade war.

Soaring US imports of industrial supplies and capital goods pushed the monthly US trade deficit up 1.6 percent to $57.6 billion, seasonally adjusted, the highest level since October 2008.

The February result overshot the expectations of economists, who were calling for the trade deficit to hold steady at January's level, previously the highest since October 2008.

The rising trade gap was also due to weigh heavily on growth at the start of the year because deficits subtract from calculations of GDP. Citing the underperformance on trade, IHS Market lowered its first-quarter estimate for GDP growth a tenth of a point to 1.5 percent.

A decade of steady job growth and rising incomes has driven stiff demand among consumers and industry in the world's largest economy.

The US is already on track to surpass 2017's deficit, the highest since the financial meltdown of 2008 -- testing Trump's vow to rein in the trade gap, which he sees as a job killer but economists view as a symptom of growth.

"The US continues to expand faster than most other industrialized countries, so it should not surprise anyone that the trade deficit is worsening," economist Joel Naroff said in a client note.

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