Washington: Data published by the US Department of Commerce on Wednesday showed that the US trade deficit rose to its highest level in more than two years in December.
The department said the trade deficit rose to $98.4 billion, reaching its highest level since March 2022 when it reached $101.9 billion.
The data showed that the deficit in November amounted to $78.9 billion.
The jump in the trade deficit came as the value of imports rose by 3.5 percent to $364.9 billion in December, while exports fell by 2.6 percent to $266.5 billion.
According to the data, the value of imports increased as a result of an increase in imports of supplies and industrial raw materials, including finished metal works, and imports of consumer and capital goods and services increased, while imports of cars, spare parts and engines declined.
At the same time, the value of US exports declined due to a decline in exports of consumer goods, supplies, industrial materials, capital goods, automobiles and their parts, and engines.
The data also showed that the goods trade deficit rose in December to $123 billion, compared to $104.5 billion in the previous month.
