WASHINGTON: The US trade deficit was wider than analysts anticipated in March—hovering close to the biggest in nearly a year—with exports and imports both declining, according to government data published Thursday. The trade gap came in at $69.4 billion, narrowing slightly from February’s $69.5 billion figure—which had been revised larger, said the Commerce Department. Analysts had expected a figure of $69.0 billion, according to Briefing.com.

While consumption has helped to support US trade, economists see trade flows easing ahead with cooler global demand and growth. Elevated interest rates in the United States could also weigh on demand in the country. On Wednesday, the US central bank held rates at a 23-year high to stamp out stubborn inflation. But for now, the “widening of the deficit in the first few months of the year is pointing to ongoing resilient domestic demand” alongside a backdrop of weaker global demand, said economist Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics.

She noted a “jump in imports” in the first quarter. For March, exports and imports were both lower. Exports fell by $5.3 billion to $257.6 billion, and imports receded $5.4 billion to $327.0 billion.

In particular, goods exports dropped by $5.1 billion with a decline seen in capital goods like civilian aircraft, as well as industrial supplies and materials. Meanwhile, imports of goods declined on the back of lower shipments for passenger cars and other consumer goods, data showed.

The slightly smaller deficit between February and March, however, came as an uptick in the services surplus outweighed a larger goods deficit, said the Commerce Department. The goods deficit with China was up $2.2 billion to $24.1 billion in March.

Meanwhile, Canada in March posted the largest trade deficit in almost one year—since June 2023 -- as both exports and imports declined, the government statistical agency said Thursday. The Can$2.3 billion (US$1.7 billion) deficit follows a downward revised surplus of Can$476 million the previous month, Statistics Canada said in a news release. Exports declined 5.3 percent, erasing almost all of the gains made in February, while imports were down 1.2 percent, the agency said.

Exports of unwrought gold plunged following a large number of shipments in February, while crude oil exports decreased for the fifth time in the past six months. The latter coincided with unplanned shutdowns at refineries in the US Midwest—an important destination for Canadian crude oil. Marine shipments of crude oil to Britain were also lower in March compared with the previous month. — AFP