WASHINGTON, April 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. trade deficit increased to the highest level in more than nine and half years in February, against the background of rising trade tensions between the United States and China, the world's two largest economies.
The U.S. exports rose 1.7 percent from January on a seasonally adjusted pace to 204.4 billion U.S. dollars in February, and the imports also grew 1.7 percent to reach 262 billion dollars in the month, said the Commerce Department on Thursday.
This left a deficit of 57.6 billion dollars in the month, rising for six consecutive months and hitting the highest level since October 2008.
Deficit in trade of goods with China dropped to 34.7 billion dollars in February from January's 35.5 billion dollars.
This week, U.S. has proposed additional 25 percent tariffs on about 1,300 products imported from China.
Business groups from China and the United States have warned the Trump administration not to move forward its tariff plan on Chinese imports, as it would raise the costs for American consumers and companies as well as having a negative effect on the financial markets.
While trade deficit reduction is one of the priorities for the Trump administration in its trade policy, economists noted that the deficit may keep growing as the United States is adopting stimulus fiscal policies, such as massive tax cuts and government spending increases.
