Imports Rose in February, Building Hope for Recovery

On Tuesday, trade data announced that there was a 1.7% increase in imports, signaling that consumer and business spending might be gaining some speed. This increased our trade deficit to 7.4%, $39.7 billion more than originally forecast. Experts believe that as the stimilus programs end and domestic demand slows, exports may start to outpace imports and help our GDP. The reason for consumer growth in imports was because of an increase in consumers goods because of the job market beginning to show some light. Businesses began to restock inventories, replace old equipment, and add capital goods brought a lot of growth. Our trade gap shrunk to $16.5 billion from $18.3, hopefully helping China's currency appreciate against the dollar. China's ability to control currency is giving them an unfair advantage in global trade.