US trade deficit grows in 2015 as exports weaken

WASHINGTON: The US trade deficit grew modestly in 2015 as exports declined amid a slowing global economy, government data showed Friday.

For all of 2015, the trade gap in goods and services widened 4.6 percent from a year ago to $531.5 billion as the fall in exports outpaced the decline in imports, the Commerce Department said.

The politically sensitive goods trade gap with China swelled to a new record last year at $365.7 billion as a strong dollar made imports cheaper, while at the same time weighing on demand for US exports.

China became the largest US trading partner in goods, with trade at $598.1 billion, edging past Canada.

The 28-nation European Union, as a bloc, continued to eclipse China, having $698.7 billion in goods trade with the US.

In fresh evidence of the weakness in global trade, both US exports and imports were lower than in 2014.

Exports dropped 4.8 percent to $2.2 trillion and imports fell 3.1 percent to $2.8 trillion.

The year ended with a return to the widening trend in the US trade shortfall. After shrinking in November, the trade gap increased to $43.4 billion in December. The November reading was downwardly revised slightly to $42.2 billion.

December exports of $181.5 billion were down 0.3 percent from November, while imports rose 0.3 percent to $224.9 billion.