U.S. trade deficit widens in March, imports growth rebounds

Trade deficit in the U.S. widened in the month of March to USD 50 billion from February’s USD 49.3 billion, coming in widely consistent with consensus expectations. The deficit broadened throughout most major trading partners except China and Japan. The deficit narrowed with China in the first quarter of 2019.

Sequentially, nominal exports grew 1 percent. Agriculture products and industrial supplies and materials boosted the rise. Exports of soybeans continued to rise in March, growing 39 percent sequentially. Meanwhile, imports grew 1.1 percent, owing to solid rises in the same categories stimulating exports. Agricultural imports rose 8.5 percent, the strongest pace since March 2014, while industrial supplies imports rose 5.6 percent after six consecutive months of contractions.

Nominal services exports came in slightly softer in the month, rising 0.1 percent sequentially. Meanwhile, imports of services rose 0.5 percent, recovering from softness in the early parts of the first quarter. On the real side, goods exports and imports recorded strong gains of 0.7 percent sequentially.

In spite of the enactment of tariffs, the trade deficit has continued to broaden. This underlines that even with tariff-induced prices rises, imports continue to be driven by strong domestic demand and secondly, imports cannot be easily substituted by domestic production, stated TD Economics in a research report.

At 17:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was neutral at 3.81772 more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex