The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis have reported an increase in the goods and services deficit for November 2024, reaching $78.2 billion. This marks a rise of $4.6 billion from October's revised figure of $73.6 billion.
In November, exports were valued at $273.4 billion, an increase of $7.1 billion compared to October, while imports rose by $11.6 billion to a total of $351.6 billion. The widening deficit is attributed to a $5.4 billion increase in the goods deficit, bringing it to $103.4 billion, alongside a rise in the services surplus by $0.9 billion to reach $25.2 billion.
For the year-to-date period, there has been a significant increase in the goods and services deficit by $93.9 billion or 13% compared to the same timeframe in 2023. Exports grew by $111.5 billion or 4%, while imports saw an increase of $205.3 billion or 5.8%.
The three-month moving average ending in November shows that the average goods and services deficit increased by $2.5 billion to reach $78.5 billion.
Exports of goods experienced growth across various sectors including industrial supplies and materials which rose by $4.3 billion, with notable increases in other petroleum products and crude oil exports as well as automotive vehicles and capital goods.
On the import side, there was an overall increase driven by higher imports of industrial supplies and materials which went up by $3.7 billion, with significant contributions from nonmonetary gold and crude oil.
Real goods data indicates that the real goods deficit increased by 5.1% to reach $96.5 billion in November.
Revisions for October include minor adjustments with exports of goods revised upwards by $0.7 billion while exports of services were revised downwards slightly.
The report also highlights trade balances with specific countries: deficits were noted with China ($25.4B), European Union ($20.5B), Mexico ($15.4B), among others; whereas surpluses were recorded with nations such as Netherlands ($5.4B) and South & Central America ($3.6B).
A new accounting system introduced by Canada Border Services Agency (CARM) has caused delays affecting U.S.-Canada trade statistics compilation for recent months due to filing backlogs from Canadian importers.
The next release on U.S International Trade is scheduled for February 5, 2025.