© Reuters. Sea gulls sit on a lamppost beside shipping containers stacked at the Paul W. Conley Container Terminal in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., May 9, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. trade deficit widened slightly in December, but contracted sharply in 2023 as imports declined and exports rose.
The trade deficit increased 0.5% to $62.2 billion, the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said on Wednesday. Data for November was revised to show the trade gap shrinking to $61.9 billion instead of $63.2 billion as previously reported.
Economists polled Reuters via biedexmarkets.com had forecast the trade deficit easing to $62.2 billion in December. For the whole of 2023, the trade deficit contracted 18.7% to 773.4 billion. It represented 2.8% of GDP, down from 3.7% in 2022.
Trade added 0.43 percentage point to the economy’s 3.3% annualized growth rate in the fourth quarter after being neutral for two straight quarters.