The US trade deficit surged to yet another new record in August as Americans are importing more and more services to go along with all of their imported goods.
The August trade deficit came in at $73.25 billion, 4.2% higher than the July trade deficit of $70.3 billion. The August deficit set a new record edging out the previous high of $73.23 billion set in June.
The month-on-month trade deficit fell in July but remains far larger than it was a year ago. And the Trailing Twelve Month figure hit a new record.
The US Trade Balance shows the deficit and surplus of US trade for Imports and Exports. A deficit occurs when imports are greater than exports. When the Trade Balance is in deficit (which it has been for decades), it accounts for one of the two components of the Twin Deficits. The Fiscal Deficit accounts for the other component and was reviewed in a previous article.
The Federal Reserve insists inflation is “transitory” and the economy is making “progress.” Yet, it continues with the extraordinary monetary policy it launched at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, we’re seeing all kinds of data hinting that the economy may not be as great as advertised. Despite this, and even as prices continue to spiral higher, the Fed’s only monetary policy is talk.
Here’s the key question: what happens if the markets call the Fed’s bluff?
The US trade balance shows the deficit and surplus of US trade for imports and exports. A deficit occurs when imports are greater than exports. When the trade balance is in deficit, it accounts for one of the two components of the twin deficits. The fiscal deficit accounts for the other component and will be reviewed in a later article.
TTM = Trailing Twelve Months
Americans consume goods other people produce. As America offshored its manufacturing, it promised to supply the world with high-priced services and technology in exchange. But as it turns out, that promise never materialized.
The ballooning overall trade deficit bears this out. It leaped to another record high in March, surging 5.6% month-on-month to a new worst-ever $74.5 billion. That was 52% worse than in March 2019.
There was a lot of news and economic data that came out this week. The Fed held its April meeting. President Biden unveiled yet another tax and spend plan. And the Q1 GDP numbers came out. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey gives an overview of the week’s news and draws a rather unsettling conclusion — this economy is totally jacked up.
The trade deficit in goods leaped to another record high in March as Americans continue to spend stimulus money printed out of thin air on products they didn’t produce.
The goods trade deficit surged 4.0% last month, hitting an all-time record of $90.6 billion. That tops the previous record of $88 billion set in February.
What do you get when you hand Americans big fat stimulus checks after decades of offshoring the country’s manufacturing economy?
Massive trade deficits.
As Peter Schiff pointed out during a recent interview with NTD News, America has never done worse on trade. He called it a sign that we don’t have a recovering economy. In fact, we have a phony economy in danger of collapse.
The annual trade deficit for goods came in at an all-time high in January, increasing $3.4 billion to a record $221.1 billion. In another sign of the massive trade imbalance, there is a shortage of shipping containers to bring things into the US.
