US trade deficit jumps in May as AI-driven imports climb
The US goods-and-services trade deficit widened to $77.6 billion in May, a 42.2% jump from April and the biggest monthly increase in a year. Imports rose 3.3% to $395.3 billion while exports fell 3.2% to $317.7 billion.
The report attributes much of the swing to the artificial intelligence spending boom: semiconductor imports rose $1.2 billion, and the gap was further widened by higher inbound shipments of pharmaceuticals, mobile phones, crude oil (up $1.5 billion) and auto parts (up $2.2 billion).
The read-through is that the AI infrastructure race is being fed substantially by imported hardware, which shows up directly in the trade balance. A wider deficit shaves headline GDP arithmetically, but here it reflects capital pouring into data-center capacity rather than weakening domestic demand — a distinction that matters for how policymakers interpret the number.