Commerce Dept.: U.S. trade deficit has grown by nearly $1B

Oct. 4 (UPI) --

The U.S. trade deficit has grown by nearly $1 billion after the Trump administration imposed new tariffs against Chinese products, the Commerce Department said in a report Friday.

The U.S. trade deficit grew from $54 billion in July to $54.9 billion in August, the department analysis said. The increase was driven by an explosion of imported consumer goods along with new tariffs against China and Europe.

The goods and services deficit increased $28.3 billion, or 7.1 percent, from the same period in 2018, the study said. Exports decreased by $3.2 billion or 0.2 percent. Imports increased $25.1 billion or 1.2 percent.

The report said U.S. exports grew by $400 million in August, led by a substantial increase in industrial supplies and materials. That was offset, however, by a major decreases in export capital goods and civilian aircraft.

Imports grew by $1.2 billion and consumer goods $1.9 billion, but there were import decreases in industrial supplies and materials, petroleum products and crude oil.

Some economists had predicted the deficit would actually increase by a half-billion dollars.

The trade gap with China decreased by 3.1 percent, the report said, to $231.6 billion -- an 11.4 percent decrease from a year ago.