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News > Economy  
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Trade gap widens
February trade deficit widest in nearly a year as imports grow, exports remain nearly flat.
April 17, 2002: 9:50 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit expanded sharply in February to its widest in nearly a year, fueled by demand for imported vehicles and consumer goods, while American exports rose only marginally, the government said Wednesday.

The February trade gap of $31.51 billion was the largest since the April 2001 tally of $31.94 billion.

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The Commerce Department also said that when imports of oil and petroleum were factored out, the February gap was the largest on record.

It beat economists' average estimate of $28.8 billion by a wide margin and was $3.27 billion above the January deficit.

Reflecting a rebounding U.S. economy, imports rose to $110.70 billion in February from $106.48 billion in January, the highest since $112.23 billion in August.

Although the increase in imports was more evidence of a U.S. economic recovery, it could push down first-quarter gross domestic product estimates. The first estimate of first-quarter GDP is due out April 26.

Automotive imports rose $1.6 billion in February to the highest level since October 2000. Imports of consumer goods increased $1.1 billion and were the highest since March 2001.

U.S. exports totaled $79.19 billion in February, up about $1 billion from January but still well below the February 2001 peak of $90.24 billion. The slight rise was spread evenly among most major categories, although exports of consumer goods were virtually unchanged.

The U.S. trade gap with China narrowed slightly in February to $6.50 billion and also decreased slightly with the European Union to $4.79 billion. The trade gap with Japan widened to $5.66 billion, an increase of almost $1 billion.  Top of page


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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.