American deficit balloons to $9.2 billion.
Global India Newswire
WASHINGTON, DC: The United States imports from India rose to $4.2 billion in May, the highest ever in a single month, the latest U.S. Department of Commerce data reveals. The U.S exports to India also jumped to $1.93 billion in May, the highest since August 2012.
As a result of the $2.26 billion deficit in May, the U.S. trade deficit against India this year ballooned to $9.2 billion, nearly a billion more than the deficit recorded in the first five months of 2012.
It is the second successive month U.S. imports from India touched the $4 billion mark.
The U.S.-India bilateral trade in the first five months of 2013 reached $26.7 billion—a near double digit growth over the same period last year.
The U.S. trade deficit with India, though insignificant when compared to its trade imbalance with China—America’s May trade deficit with China was a whopping $27.9 billion—has assumed significance in recent weeks, with a number of business groups calling attention to it.
On June 18, just days before the India-U.S. Strategic Dialogue, more than 170 members of Congress wrote a letter to President Obama voicing concerns about the trade deficit. “We are deeply concerned about the growing trade imbalance between the United States and India, which we believe is due in no small part to policies by the Government of India to favor domestic producers over U.S. exporters,” they wrote.