US trade deficit widens sharply, reversing big pullback lauded by Trump

The US trade deficit sharply widened in November as imports picked up, according to government data released Thursday, reversing an unexpectedly big pullback in the prior month lauded by US President Donald Trump.The trade gap surged by 94.6 per cent in November to US$56.8 billion, Commerce Department data showed, bringing it close to levels seen in June and August last year.The shift reflected fluctuations in goods like gold and pharmaceuticals, in a year already marked by major swings in trade due to Trump’s sweeping tariffs.In November, US imports increased by 5.0 per cent to US$348.9 billion, while exports slipped 3.6 per cent to US$292.1 billion.Analysts generally expected the deficit to grow, but Thursday’s expansion was more than the US$42.9 billion projected by surveys of Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.A staff member displays gold jewellery at a gold store in Lianyungang, in China’s Jiangsu province, on Thursday. Photo: AFPEarlier this month, Trump was quick to tout a plunge in the trade deficit to its lowest since 2009, attributing it – and the country’s economic growth – to the success of his tariffs.