U.S. trade deficit widens in May amid COVID-19 fallout

WASHINGTON, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The overall U.S. trade deficit widened in May as the COVID-19 pandemic weighed on both imports and exports, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday.

U.S. imports fell by 0.9 percent to 199.1 billion U.S. dollars in May while exports fell by 4.4 percent to 144.5 billion dollars, the department said. The overall trade deficit rose by 9.7 percent to 54.6 billion dollars from a revised 49.8 billion dollars in April.

The deficit in goods with China rose by 1.9 billion dollars to 27.9 billion dollars in May, as U.S. exports to China increased to 10 billion dollars while imports from China rose to 37.9 billion dollars, according to the department.

"Exports remained weak as the global economy continued to grapple with COVID-19. Consumer goods was the only category of goods exports that rose in May," Shannon Seery, economist at Wells Fargo Securities, wrote Thursday in a note.

"Services trade remained weak as well and continued to be held back by tourism. Travel and transport exports remained down about 70% since February, while imports were down 76%," Seery wrote, noting a renewed COVID-19 outbreak is a large risk to the recovery of international trade.