U.S. Trade Deficit Widens More Than Expected In July

(RTTNews) - Reflecting a jump in imports and a slump in exports, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing the U.S. trade deficit widened significantly in the month of July.

The Commerce Department said the trade deficit surged to $88.6 billion in July from a revised $71.2 billion in June.

Economists had expected the trade deficit to increase to $83.0 billion from the $73.3 billion originally reported for the previous month.

The wider trade deficit came as the value of imports shot up by 2.8 percent to $399.3 billion, while the value of exports tumbled by 2.1 percent to $310.7 billion.