U.S. trade deficit swells to record as goods, oil imports surge

The U.S. trade deficit swelled to a record in January, reflecting pickups in the values of imported capital equipment and consumer goods as well as crude oil.

The January gap in goods and services trade widened 9.4% to $89.7 billion, Commerce Department data showed Tuesday. The shortfall was bigger than all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The figures aren’t adjusted for prices.

The value of imports rose 1.2% in January to a record $314.1 billion, while exports decreased 1.7% to $224.4 billion.

Imports of industrial supplies that include oil and petroleum products climbed in January. Crude oil prices during the month registered the biggest January gain in three decades. Russia’s war in Ukraine has since driven oil prices sharply higher.

West Texas Intermediate, a global crude benchmark, climbed 17% in January as strong demand, lower stocks, and troop deployment on the Ukrainian border by Russia—a key exporter—stoked supply concerns. Imports of crude climbed to $13.7 billion, near the highest since mid-2018.

Meanwhile, goods imports continued their upward trajectory as businesses pushed to replenish stocks depleted by strong demand from consumers.

Digging Deeper

• The merchandise-trade deficit widened to $108.9 billion, a record.
• The nation’s surplus in services trade shrank to $19.2 billion
• Travel exports—or spending by visitors to the U.S.—fell for the first time in five months, to $6.8 billion, reflecting the impact of omicron
• Travel imports, a measure of Americans traveling abroad, dropped to $6.1 billion, the lowest since August
• On an inflation-adjusted basis, the January merchandise-trade deficit widened to $118.1 billion from $111.7 billion in December
• The goods trade deficit with Russia, which was the U.S. fourth-biggest source of crude imports by quantity in 2021, widened to $1.6 billion