WASHINGTON — The United States imported more goods than ever last year, including a record amount from China, ballooning America’s trade deficit with the rest of the world to $891.3 billion and delivering a setback to President Trump’s goal of narrowing that gap. But the widening gap was also exacerbated by Mr. Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax cut, which has been largely financed by government borrowing, and the trade war he escalated last year. The trade deficit is the difference between how much a country sells to its trading partners and how much it buys. Instead, in a year when Mr. Trump imposed tariffs on steel, aluminum, washing machines, solar panels and a variety of Chinese goods, the trade deficit grew by 12.5 percent from 2017, or nearly $70 billion dollars, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The deficit in goods, which Mr. Trump particularly targets, grew to $891.2 billion for the year, its highest level in history.

Source: New York Times March 06, 2019 14:28 UTC