U.S. runs up massive trade deficits with China, Mexico, Japan and Germany | The Business Journals

The United States ran up a trade deficit of more than $10 billion with four different countries. And it took just three months to do it.

America’s balance of trade with China, Mexico, Japan and Germany plummeted more than $10 billion into the red during the first quarter of 2011, according to new figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The worst imbalance is with China. American companies exported $26 billion of goods to China in January, February and March. But American consumers purchased more than $86 billion of imported Chinese goods during the same three-month span.

The resulting U.S. trade deficit with China: $60.20 billion in the first quarter alone.

The next-largest American deficits for the quarter were $16.33 billion with Mexico, $16.28 billion with Japan, $11.00 billion with Germany and $9.63 billion with Canada.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis tracks American trade with 41 countries. (The report is confined to trade in goods. Services are excluded.) Nation-by-nation breakdowns for 2011’s first quarter can be found in the database below.

The United States had trade deficits with 29 of the 41 countries, and surpluses with the other 12.

The largest U.S. trade advantage was $7.40 billion over Hong Kong in the first quarter, followed by $4.55 billion with the Netherlands and $3.68 billion with Australia

Read more: U.S. runs up massive trade deficits with China, Mexico, Japan and Germany | The Business Journals

U.S. runs up massive trade deficits with China, Mexico, Japan and Germany | The Business Journals