U.S. Trade Gap Widening in Advanced Technology

(Industry Week – Peter Alpern)

While overall trade deficit rose marginally in November, numbers suggest U.S. is importing advanced technologies at alarming rates.

The ongoing – and apparently deepening – trade deficit has begun to undercut what has long been the U.S.’s primary strength: producing advanced technology.

Even though the nation’s trade deficit widened to $36.4 billion in November from $33.2 billion the month before, according to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, what is alarming is the chasm in importing advanced technology, which grew to a new monthly record of $8.30 billion. The new mark eclipses the previous high of $7.73 billion, back in October of 2007, by 7.3%.

“It warns that a long-time strength of the U.S. economy is fast becoming a major weakness,” said Alan Tonelson, a research fellow for the U.S. Business & Industrial Council Educational Foundation, a Washington research organization studying U.S. economic, technology, and national security policy.

U.S. exports of high tech goods dropped by 11.31% in November, from $23.70 billion to $21.01 billion, while imports of those products stood at $29.3 billion. Read more here.