Trade Deficit Unexpectedly Explodes Higher, Widest Gap In Almost Two Years Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The U.S. trade deficit in goods unexpectedly surged higher in April as imports of autos and capital goods grew rapidly.

The deficit widened by 7.7 percent to $99.4 billion in April, the Commerce Department's advanced estimate of trade and inventories showed Thursday. That's the largest deficit since June 2022.

The prior month's deficit was revised up to $92.3 billion from $91.8 billion.

Economists had expected a more modest widening of the deficit to $92.5 billion.

Imports rose 3.1 percent in April, much faster than the 0.5 percent expansion in exports.

Imports of autos grew by 10.4 percent compared with the previous month to $41.6 billion, while exports of cars and trucks grew just 3.6 percent to $14.7 billion.

Imports of capital goods grew 3.5 percent and imports of industrial supplies grew 2.1 percent .

Exports of U.S. agricultural products shrank 6.6 percent and exports of industrial supplies fell 3.2 percent. The largest expansion in percentage terms of U.S. exports was in consumer goods, which grew 5.4 percent to $22.1 billion.

The figures are seasonally adjusted but not adjusted for inflation.

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