In some of the early data coming out in this period of trade disputes,
the goods deficit of the July trade report totaled a much
deeper-than-expected $72.2 billion. Exports of goods fell 1.7 percent in
the month to $140.0 billion showing a very steep 6.7 percent
month-to-month decline in food & feeds together with a 2.5 percent
dip in exports of consumer goods and a 1.7 percent decline in the
nation's largest export, that of capital goods.
Imports also
added to the widening of the deficit in July, up 0.9 percent compared to
June to $212.2 billion with foods & feeds up 2.1 percent, vehicles
up 1.6 percent, and industrial supplies, which include petroleum
products, up 0.9 percent. The nation's largest import category is
consumer goods which was the only category to fall on the import side of
the data, down 1.5 percent in the month.
July's $72.2 billion
goods deficit compares with a monthly average of $66.7 billion in the
second quarter which was a very good quarter for trade, representing 1.1
percentage points of the quarter's 4.1 percent pace. Today's results,
however, pose a very slow start for the third quarter.
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