U.S. Trade Shortfall Hits $58.3 Billion in January

The U.S. trade gap widened to a near-record $58.3 billion in January as the seemingly insatiable appetite of U.S. consumers pushed imports to an all-time high, a government report showed Friday.

Imports jumped 1.9% to a record $159.1 billion, the Commerce Department said, swamping a 0.4% rise in exports, which also set a record at $100.8 billion.

January’s trade shortfall came in second only to November’s record $59.4-billion gap and surprised economists, who had expected the deficit to widen only slightly to $56.5 billion.

The report signaled a continued strong appetite by U.S. consumers and reflected, in part, a climb in textile imports from China that U.S. textile groups said reflected the Jan. 1 end to a decades-old quota system.

“Most of the surprise was on the import side, in particular imports of consumer goods -- there is very strong domestic demand and stores are reloading,” said Stephen Stanley, an economist at RBS Greenwich Capital Markets.

Imports of consumer goods jumped $2 billion to $34.6 billion. Imports of autos and capital goods also were up, each gaining more than $500 million.

The U.S. trade gaps with Canada and the newly industrialized countries of Asia both widened by $1.3 billion, as exports fell off and imports climbed.

The gap with China -- the country that enjoys the largest trade surplus with the United States -- grew $1 billion, as exports dropped nearly 20% and imports edged up 1.9%.

U.S. imports of textiles and apparel from China shot up about 41% to $1.89 billion.

U.S. farm exports in January totaled $5.05 billion, down $635 million from the previous month, while agriculture imports declined to $4.74 billion, down $177 million from the previous month.