U.S. trade deficit rose again in May

The U.S. trade deficit rose for the third straight month in May. Both exports and imports fell as the coronavirus outbreak continued to take a toll on world commerce.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that the gap between the goods and services the United States buys and what it sells abroad rose 9.7 percent in May to $54.6 billion, the highest level since December 2018. The pandemic has devastated world trade. U.S. exports fell 4.4 percent in May to $144.5 billion, the lowest since November 2009. Imports slid 0.9 percent to $199.1 billion, the lowest since July 2010.

The politically sensitive deficit in the trade of goods with China rose 7.3 percent to $27.9 billion in May.

So far this year, the overall U.S. deficit in the trade of goods and services has fallen 9.1 percent to $223.4 billion from $245.7 billion in January-May 2019.

World trade has plummeted in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak. In May, overall U.S. trade — exports plus imports — came in at $343.6 billion, down 28 percent from May 2019. Exports of crude oil and petroleum products dropped sharply in May, as did auto imports.

In May, the U.S. ran a $76.1 billion deficit in the trade of goods such as autos and appliances. It ran a $21.5 billion surplus, smallest since February 2016, in the trade of services such as banking and education.