U.S. Trade Deficit Goes Big on Big in January

Just in time for the litany of bad headlines, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that the U.S. trade deficit grew to $89.7 Billion, which is up $7.7 Billion compared to the revised December number of $82.0 Billion.

In true Michael Scott Double Jeopardy fashion, imports rose with declining exports in the month of January. Exports for the month clocked in at $224.4 Billion, $3.9 Billion less than the month prior. And imports clocked in at $314.1 Billion, $3.8 Billion more than the month prior. AMERICA IS BACK, BABY.

It’s actually kind of disturbing, but not totally surprising, to see that the goods and services deficit rose by $24.6 Billion year-over-year from January 2021. And also to nobody’s surprise, China made up 40% of the total deficit.

Surprisingly enough, imports of vehicles, parts, and engines were the largest contributor to January imports. Since the beginning of last year, the global economy has been plagued with semiconductor shortages, which has hit the automobile industry especially hard. I expect to see this number go trend higher in the coming months. Industrial supplies accounted for $1.5 Billion, with crude oil, natural gas, and copper being the largest contributors. The last sector that stood out to me was the consumer goods export number, and namely pharmaceuticals, which decreased $3.2 Billion. While this isn’t necessarily the case, you can draw a possible conclusion that there is just not the demand for the COVID-19 vaccines that some may have surmised.

In any case, America is doing what America does best: CONSUMING WITH NO REMORSE.