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Washington – In the middle of a trade war with its major partners, Donald Trump can welcome a further decline in the US deficit in May, the lowest since October 2016 thanks to record exports, but it continues to widen compared to last year.
The US goods and services deficit with the rest of the world stood at $ 43.1 billion (-6.6%), with exports up 1.9% to 215, 3 billion and imports up 0.4% to 258.4 billion, according to data released Friday by the Department of Commerce.
However, the underlying trend remains unchanged since over the first five months of the year, the deficit has increased by 7.9% compared to the same period of 2017.
And for the only goods, the deficit with China – at the heart of Washington's protectionist offensive – has increased by 9.5% between January and May.
Exports of goods increased by $ 3.6 billion in May, led by the civil aviation industry and the food sector.
Note in particular the spectacular increase (+ 89.6% to 4.14 billion) in soybean exports due to tensions between Washington and Beijing, which intensified in May.
China is indeed the main outlet for American soybeans. Chinese importers of this commodity have probably increased the volume bought before the entry of customs taxes on Friday.
Ian Shepherdson, an economist at Pantheon Macro, estimates that soybean exports are expected to increase further in June before a sharp decline in July.
" The deficit is expected to decline again in June before a likely sharp rebound in July when soybean exports will plummet ," he said in a note.
This data is published then the United States and China launched Friday " the biggest commercial war in economic history ", according to the words of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
At 00:00 hours Washington DC (0400 GMT) came into force punitive tariffs of 25% decided by Donald Trump on a total of 34 billion dollars of Chinese imports including automobiles, hard disks or even aircraft components.
– Russian Retortions –
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that retaliatory measures came into effect " immediately " after. The official agency China New specified that " additional customs duties of 25% " had been imposed on an amount " equal " of American products.
The White House, which has made the reduction of the trade deficit a priority, has stepped up protectionist measures since the beginning of the year. It had already imposed taxes of 25% on imports of steel and 10% on those of aluminum from China, the European Union, Canada or even Mexico.
Its main partners have filed appeals with the World Trade Organization (WTO).
And on Friday, in the wake of the European Union, Canada and Mexico, Russia announced the introduction of surcharges on a series of US products in response to the customs barriers imposed in these sectors.
" Compensation measures are taken in the form of additional customs duties on imports ranging from 25% to 40% of the price of the goods ," the Russian Minister the Maxime Orechkin Economy.
Donald Trump also imposed the renegotiation of trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (Alena) linking the United States to Canada and Mexico. But discussions are currently at a standstill.
With the European Union, the tone has gone up a notch since the White House also announced plans to tax the auto sector.
The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, must visit Washington before the end of July to try to reach an agreement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said " ready " on Thursday to negotiate a widespread lowering of taxes on the automobile, responding to a proposal made by Washington to German automakers and opening a new scenario for to exit the commercial conflict.
By country, in May, the deficit of goods with the European Union fell by 10.2% to 11.9 billion. The deficit with Mexico also fell to 5.8 billion (-3.3%) but rebounded by 24% with Canada to 2.18 billion and 3.9% with China to 32.04 billion.
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