Trade Gap Widens to 16-month High

WASHINGTON (AP) — America's trade deficit shot up in July to the highest level in 16 months as oil imports hit an all-time high, offsetting strong export growth, and the deficit with China climbed to the second highest level on record. The Commerce Department said Thursday that the deficit rose 5.7% to $62.2 billion in July, much worse than the $58 billion deficit that Wall Street expected. It pushed the gap between what America imports and what it sells abroad to the highest level since March 2007. The trade deterioration reflected the record oil prices in July, which pushed America's foreign oil bill to an all-time high of $51.4 billion, up 13.7% from June. As crude oil prices surged in July, the volume of oil imports jumped 15% to 342 million barrels, the highest since June 2004 even though prices were almost double the average of last July.