U.S. Trade Deficit in Goods Unexpectedly Widens in February

The U.S. trade deficit widened in February as exports fell faster than imports.

The international trade deficit was $91.6 billion in February, up $0.5 billion from $91.1 billion in January, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That is a 0.6 percent increase.

Exports of goods for February were $167.8 billion, $6.7 billion less than January’s exports. Imports of goods for February were $259.5 billion, $6.2 billion less than January’s imports.

Economists were expecting the trade deficit to decline to $90.0 billion after the preliminary estimate of 91.5 billion in January. The January figure was revised down to a deficit of $91.1 billion.

In the calculation of Gross Domestic Product, the main measure of economic growth, exports are additions and imports are subtractions.