US trade deficit pushed up

Baltimore News.Net
Wednesday 11th June, 2008

US government data shows a surge in imports and high oil prices have offset the impact of a weak dollar and pushed the US trade deficit up to 60.9 billion dollars for April.

The monthly jump in the trade gap of 7.8 percent was the largest since September 2005 and was higher than economists' estimates of 60 billion dollars.

The Commerce Department report showed a surge of 9.4 billion dollars in imports, including 5.4 billion dollars for oil and related products, outstripping the increase in exports of 5.0 billion dollars.

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