US Trade Gap Widens More Than Expected on Goods Imports Surge

The U.S. trade deficit expanded more than expected in July, government data showed Thursday, on a surge in imports analysts expect was driven by a rush to beat another wave of President Donald Trump's tariffs.

The overall U.S. trade deficit jumped 32.5% to $78.3 billion in July, the Department of Commerce said.

This came on the back of a 5.9% rise in imports to $358.8 billion, while exports edged up just 0.3% to $280.5 billion.

A Briefing.com consensus forecast had expected a smaller deficit figure of 64.2 billion.

Analysts at Pantheon Macroeconomics believe the growing trade gap is connected with "another wave of pre-tariff stockpiling," they said in a recent report.

Trump slapped a 10% tariff on almost all U.S. trading partners in April, but twice postponed a plan for these duties to rise to varying higher levels for dozens of economies.

The steeper levels, hitting key partners like the European Union, Japan and India, finally took effect in early August.

Analysts believe that businesses that boosted imports to get ahead of tariff hikes are running down on existing inventory, meaning that they will likely have to make new purchases at higher business costs.

Among sectors, imports of industrial supplies and consumer goods both jumped, the Commerce Department report said.

The U.S. goods deficit with China widened $5.3 billion to $14.7 billion in July, the report added.