The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly widened for a second consecutive month in February as imports of cars and consumer goods set a record and offset growing exports and the first decline in oil imports in a year, the government reported Thursday. The Commerce Department said the deficit widened 5.7 percent in February to $62.3 billion, the highest level since last November. Analysts had expected the deficit to decline, believing that a sharp economic slowdown in the United States would reduce demand for imports. But despite the slow U.S. economic growth that has fueled worries about a recession, imports of goods and services rose 3.1 percent to a record high of $213.7 billion, reflecting a big surge in imports of foreign cars. Records were set in individual import categories for consumer goods, capital goods, industrial supplies and materials, and food. Meanwhile, U.S. petroleum imports declined in February to $37.7 billion after 11 consecutive monthly increases. The decline occurred as average crude-oil import prices rose to a record $84.76 a barrel, helping to reduce imports to 9.9 million barrels per day—below the 2007 average of 10.1 million. U.S. exports also set a record, rising by 2 percent to $151.4 billion, aided by the weak U.S. dollar, faster growth in the rest of the world than in the United States, and strong gains in the sale of U.S.-made heavy machinery, computers, and farm goods. Exports grew 13.5 percent to Germany and the rest of the European Union and increased almost 10 percent to Japan. U.S. exports to China fell slightly. For the first two months of the year, the trade deficit is running at an annual rate of $727.6 billion, up from last year's deficit of $708.5 billion, which had been the first annual decline in the deficit in five years. The politically sensitive U.S. trade gap with China fell by 9.6 percent to $18.4 billion, the lowest imbalance in a year. Despite the decline, the U.S. deficit with China remained the largest with any country. The next highest deficit was a gap of $6.9 billion with Japan. In a second report, the number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits fell by a bigger-than-expected 53,000 last week, but a closely watched moving average of jobless claims was at its highest level in over two years, the Labor Department said.
