The US trade gap widened in May to the second-largest on record as the pace of increases in imports exceeded that of exports.
The gap in trade of goods and services rose 3.1% to $71.2 billion in May from a revised $69.1 billion in April, according to Commerce Department data released Friday. That compares with a median estimate for a shortfall of $71.3 billion in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
Exports advanced 0.6% to $206 billion, while imports climbed 1.3% to $277.3 billion.
Although recovering economies overseas are increasing demand for US products and services, American consumers stuck at home during the Covid-19 pandemic have been buying more goods, sending US purchases — and imports — to repeated records.
Pandemic-induced logistics bottlenecks have thrown global supply chains out of sync, causing delays at ports, pallet and container shortages, and record-high shipping rates.
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