Trade Deficit Blow Out

Remember when we thought the U.S. was going to export our way back to prosperity riding European and emerging market aggregate demand (that wasn't a crazy statement even a year ago... promise)?

BusinessWeek details the reality:

The trade deficit widened more than forecast in March as American demand for crude oil, computers, automobiles and televisions propelled imports to a record.

The gap grew 14 percent to $51.8 billion, the Commerce Department reported in Washington today. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for an increase to $50 billion. A 5.2 percent jump in imports, the biggest in more than a year, swamped the 2.9 percent gain in exports, which also reached a record.

Change in Trade Balance - Chain-Weighted 2005 $$ (i.e. real change in 2005 dollar valuation)

With the re-emerging crisis in Europe since the March trade balance print (and what will likely be a resulting oversupply of goods coming from emerging Asia), don't expect this trend to slow any time soon.

Source: Census