Trade deficit hits record high

WASHINGTON — Rising oil prices and Americans’ seemingly insatiable appetite for foreign goods — from Chinese clothing to French wine and Japanese cars — sent the U.S. trade deficit to another record.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the deficit jumped to $68.5 billion in January, 5.3 percent more than in December. Analysts had expected the trade gap to worsen, given the surge in world oil prices, but the increase caught them by surprise.

“We shopped the world’s markets until we dropped,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors. “We bought a lot more of everything, including capital and consumer goods, foods and motor vehicles.”

Analysts said that unless demand for imported goods slows, the U.S. could produce a record annual deficit for the fifth year in a row, topping last year’s imbalance of $723.6 billion.

Critics contended the January deficit showed the failure of President Bush’s free trade policy that has contributed to the loss of nearly 3 million U.S. manufacturing jobs.

“The American people need a Congress and an administration that will get tough on trade policy to rein in these runaway deficits,” said Rep. Benjamin Cardin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means subcommittee on trade.

The Clinton administration filed on average 11 unfair trade cases per year before the World Trade Organization, he said, while the Bush administration has filed only 13 cases in more than five years in office.