Natalie Sherman
Business Reporter, BBC News
Getty images
American imports reached their highest level in December while companies responded to the threat of the prices made by President Donald Trump by shopping to secure toys, mobile phones and foreign manufacturing computers.
The value of the goods brought to the United States jumped from 4% from November to 293.1 billion dollars, the highest since the start of files in 1992, the trade department announced on Wednesday.
This increase has also contributed to the widest trade deficit, or gap, between exports and imports in almost two years.
This occurs while the future of global trade remains uncertain due to Trump’s price plans – a tax he said that he wanted to see all foreign expeditions in the country.
This week, the president slapped a 10% tariff on goods from China, but suspended a planned rate of 25% on the expeditions of Canada and Mexico for a month against a generalized public alarm.
Without the break, its orders would have increased the cost of shipments of the three main American trade partners, who represent more than 40% of the $ 3 of goods that the United States imports each year.
Trump said prices encourage companies to make their products in the United States, expressing repeated concern about the size of the trade deficit.
But the measures have aroused concerns about their effects the American economy, as companies react to commercial uncertainty by retaining investments or by transmitting new costs to customers.
The prices also caused political tensions, including reprisals from China, which responded to Trump’s decision with prices on American goods and an anti-monopoly survey of Google, among other measures.
On Wednesday, Bloomberg said that the country’s anti-monopoly regulator was preparing for a possible investigation into Apple’s policies and app stores, achieving the actions of the company.
China ranked as the county with the largest freight deficit in December, sending $ 25.3 billion more to the United States it has bought.
The European Union, a target target target of Trump, had the second largest gap.
On the other hand, the United States has experienced a small surplus of $ 2.3 billion in the trade in the United Kingdom.
Overall, the trade deficit in the United States, including services, increased by 17% last year to reach a total of $ 918.4 billion, as imports increased more quickly than exports.
In December, the trade deficit of goods and services was $ 98.4 billion, the highest since March 2022, said the Commerce Department.
