US Trade Deficit in Goods Surges to Record High, Tops $1 Trillion

Cargo containers are stacked at the Port of Long Beach, Calif., on Oct. 27, 2021. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

The U.S. trade deficit in goods rose in December on the back of an import surge to hit a monthly record high, while bringing the total shortfall for all of 2021 to more than $1 trillion, also a historic first.

The trade deficit in goods—or the difference between imports and exports of products—rose by a monthly 3 percent in December to an all-time high of $101 billion, the Commerce Department said in a Jan. 26 statement (pdf). The previous record was set in November, when the trade gap climbed to $98 billion.