The trade deficit in goods and services increased by the highest margin on record ($6.8 billion) to $46.6 billion in December, a 17.1% increase from November ($39.8 billion, revised). The increase in the deficit reflects a decrease of $1.5 billion in exports and an increase of $5.3 billion in imports. Among the drivers for the increase in imports are record highs for non-petroleum imports ($173.2 billion) and imports of services ($41.2 billion). To view the full release, please click here.

In addition to the monthly data, this month’s release features the annual data for 2014.

Our “Annual Trade Highlights” page provides information changes from the previous year on both a percentage and dollar basis, and also indicates the last time a larger change occurred. For example, the percent change in the goods and services balance was the highest since the change from 2010-2011 at 6.0%. 2014 also saw record highs for exports of goods and services ($2.3 trillion), exports of goods ($1.6 trillion) and the lowest quantity of crude oil imports (2.7 billion barrels) since 1993 (2.5 billion barrels).

The U.S. had record trade deficits with China ($342.6 billion) and the European Union ($141.1 billion) in 2014 while having record surpluses with South/Central America ($34.4 billion) and Singapore ($14.1 billion). These are just some of the highlights; you can see the complete list on our “Annual Trade Highlights” page here.