Background

The monthly U.S. trade deficit in goods and services exploded by 24.7 percent in December after a 6.3 percent rise in November.

Imports were up 3.5 percent, to $364.9 billion, from November to December. Imports of goods rose 4.0 percent to $293.1 billion, with increases of $9.2 billion for finished metal shapes, $2.2 billion for consumer goods, and $1.2 billion for computers along with a decrease of $1.6 billion for passenger cars. Services imports were up 1.4 percent to $71.8 billion.

Exports slumped 2.6 percent in December to $266.5 billion. Exports of goods tumbled 4.2 percent to $170.2 billion, with decreases of $1.4 billion each for pharmaceutical preparations and civilian aircraft and $0.9 billion each for computers and crude oil. Services exports were up 0.4 percent to $96.3 billion.

The monthly U.S. trade deficit rose from $78.9 billion in November to $98.4 billion in December. The deficit in goods trade was up 18.2 percent to $123.0 billion while the services trade surplus slipped 2.4 percent to $24.5 billion.

For all of 2024 the U.S. trade deficit increased 17.0 percent to $918.4 billion. Imports rose 6.6 percent to $4.11 trillion and exports gained 3.9 percent to $3.19 trillion. The goods deficit was up 14.0 percent while the services surplus was up 2.8 percent.

For the month of December 2024, trade deficits and surpluses with major trading partners were as follows.

Country/region

Deficit

% Change

Surplus

% Change

China

$25.3 billion

-0.4

 

 

European Union

$20.4 billion

-0.5

 

 

Mexico

$15.2 billion

-1.3

 

 

Switzerland

$13.0 billion

+233.3

 

 

Vietnam

$11.4 billion

+0.9

 

 

Canada

$7.9 billion

+61.2

 

 

Germany

$7.6 billion

+10.1

 

 

Taiwan

$6.9 billion

+25.5

 

 

Ireland

$6.2 billion

-33.3

 

 

South Korea

$5.6 billion

+9.8

 

 

Japan

$5.5 billion

+3.8

 

 

India

$4.9 billion

+25.6

 

 

Italy

$4.1 billion

+41.4

 

 

Malaysia

$2.5 billion

-10.7

 

 

France

$1.1 billion

-52.2

 

 

Israel

$0.8 billion

+14.3

 

 

Singapore

$0.4 billion

-33.3

 

 

Netherlands

 

 

$5.0 billion

-7.4

South/Central America

 

 

$3.5 billion

-2.8

United Kingdom

 

 

$2.3 billion

+666.7

Hong Kong

 

 

$0.7 billion

-65.0

Saudi Arabia

 

 

$0.4 billion

+33.3

Brazil

 

 

$0.4 billion

+100.0

Belgium

 

 

$0.3 billion

-40.0

Australia

 

 

$0.2 billion

-90.0

 

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