The US trade deficit widened for the second consecutive month to 29.2 billion dollars in April as exports decreased more than imports amid a global economic slowdown, the government said Wednesday.
The deficit, in line with expectations, rose from a revised 28.5 billion dollars in March, when the gap started to widen after seven consecutive months of decline, the Commerce Department said.
Higher oil prices accounted for most of the modest increase in the deficit.
Most analysts had expected a 29-billion-dollar April trade gap amid slight improvement since February, when the deficit of 26.1 billion dollars was the lowest since 1999.
But analysts said lackluster trade arising from the global economic decline is unlikely to give a major push to efforts to bring the United States out of prolonged recession.
"Trade is likely to be neutral or slightly positive for second quarter GDP, after a 2.2 percent contribution in the first quarter, though higher oil prices will lift the headline deficit next few months," said Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist for High Frequency Economics.
"There are no green shoots here at all."
Joel Naroff, chief economist of Naroff Economic Advisors, said that with the jumping oil prices, "it is likely that we will see a further deterioration in our trade situation and that will not help us as we try to get out of this recession."
The Commerce Department said exports decreased to 121.1 billion dollars in April from 123.9 billion dollars the previous month while imports fell to 150.3 billion dollars in April from 152.5 billion dollars.
The drop in goods trade was mostly due to decreases in industrial supplies and materials and capital goods while the services trade dip stemmed from sluggish travel and other private services.
The goods deficit with Canada, the top US trading partner, increased from 800 million dollars in March to 1.2 billion dollars in April.
The politically sensitive deficit with China increased from 15.6 billion dollars in March to 16.8 billion dollars in April, with exports decreasing by 400 million dollars to 5.2 billion dollars and imports increasing 700 million dollars to 21.9 billion dollars.
The deficit with the European Union increased from 4.4 billion dollars in March to 5.3 billion dollars in April.
