The US trade deficit jumped in August as exports fell sharply amid a slowing global economy, outweighing an increase in imports, government data released Tuesday showed.
The Commerce Department said the trade gap widened to $48.3 billion in August, an increase of 15.6 percent from July.
The shortfall was much larger than expected; the average analyst estimate had been a 6.4 percent rise to $44.5 billion.
The deterioration in the US trade balance, the worst since March, spells bad news for US economic growth. While consumer spending has been solid if not spectacular in the domestic economy, the data gave further evidence that the slowdown among the major US trading partners and the stronger dollar were weighing on US exports.
Exports fell 2.0 percent to $185.1 billion in August. Exports of goods sank to their lowest level since June 2011, including a drop in industrial supplies and materials to their weakest level since October 2010.
Exports of plastic, cotton, electronic equipment and computers were all weaker. Civilian aircraft exports, however, soared in August.
Imports rebounded from a July decline, rising 1.2 percent to $233.4 billion as imports of consumer goods led the way. Mobile phone imports leaped 30 percent. Auto imports slipped 1.3 percent to $29.7 billion after hitting a record in July.