The United States (US) has recorded an increase in its international trade deficit, which has jumped to US$90.6 billion in March 2021.

This represents an increase of US$3.5 billion from the $87.1 billion recorded for the previous month of February 2021. Exports of goods for March 2021 amounted to US$142.0 billion, which is US$11.4 billion more than exports reported in February 2021.

Imports of goods for March 2021 amounted to US$232.6 billion, which is US$14.9 billion more than February 2021 imports of US$217.74 billion.

The March wholesale inventories totaled US$693.4 billion, which is a 1.4 per cent increase from the February 2021 figure of US$684.1 billion. This represents a 4.5 per cent rise relative to the March 2020 amount of US$663.7 billion.

RETAIL INVENTORIES DOWN FOR MARCH COMPARED TO FEBRUARY

For the one-month period January to February 2021, the percentage change has been revised up from 0.6 per cent to 0.9 per cent. Retail inventories for March 2021 were projected to be US$613.2 billion at the end of the month, down 1.4 per cent from the February 2021 out-turn of US$622.0 billion.

This would represent a 7.4 per centincrease from March 2020 when the total amount was US$662.1 billion, after adjusting for seasonal variations and trading day differences.