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U.S. reports soaring trade deficit in March

Xinhua, May 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. trade gap widened further in March, driven by a surge in imports, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

The country's trade deficit expanded 43 percent from the previous month to 51.4 billion U.S. dollars in March, the largest since October 2008. In March, exports increased 1.6 billion dollars from February, or 0.9 percent, to 187.8 billion dollars, while imports rose 7.7 percent to 239.2 billion dollars.

A strong dollar and a labor dispute that disrupted shipping at West Coast ports have continued to affect the trade figures in the month.

The surge in the monthly trade deficit had certain adverse impact over the country's economy in the first quarter of the year. U.S. real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 0. 2 percent in the first quarter, due to a bout of blizzards and a strong dollar's drag on exports. Endite