The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services rebounded to $56.8 billion in November, rising 95 percent from the previous month as President Trump’s tariffs reordered trade, according to data from the Commerce Department released on Thursday.
Exports fell 3.6 percent in the month, to $292.1 billion. Imports rose 5 percent in November, to $348.9 billion. The combination pushed up the monthly trade deficit, the gap between what the United States imports and what it exports.
The data reflected some of the intense volatility that has resulted from the president’s trade policy, which has imposed steep taxes on imports. The trade deficit had fallen in prior months, seemingly accomplishing a major goal for Mr. Trump, who views that metric as a sign of economic weakness. The October trade deficit was the lowest monthly figure recorded since June 2009.
But much of that drop was the result of temporary fluctuations in trade in certain products, like gold and pharmaceuticals. Economists have cautioned against a single-minded focus on the trade deficit, saying that it can move for a wide variety of reasons, and that last year was particularly volatile when it comes to trade.
In the early months of Mr. Trump’s presidency, companies rushed to bring goods into the country to avoid tariffs, causing imports and the trade deficit to spike. After Mr. Trump announced sweeping global tariffs in April, shipments of imports fell back. Other types of products, like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, have also seen import surges and declines as the president announced tariffs throughout the year.
Last year through November, the overall trade deficit was still up 4.1 percent from the previous year. Exports for that period were 6.3 percent higher than the previous year, while imports were 5.8 percent higher. The question for economists now is where trade goes from here, and if the president’s policies continue to lower imports in the long term.
Tariffs could undergo more changes in the weeks to come. The Supreme Court is set to rule soon on the legality of many of the tariffs that Mr. Trump issued using a 1970s emergency law, though the Trump administration has said that any levies that are struck down will be quickly replaced using other legal workarounds.
The administration has used the emergency law to impose tariffs on nearly all countries and added more levies to products and sectors it deems important to national security, including steel, copper and upholstered furniture. As of January, the U.S. effective tariff rate had climbed to nearly 17 percent, the highest level since 1935.
Ana Swanson covers trade and international economics for The Times and is based in Washington. She has been a journalist for more than a decade.
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