USA trade deficit surges to 10-year high in 2018

The U.S. trade deficit past year has surged to the highest level since 2008, according to a report by U.S. Commerce Department Wednesday. Despite President Donald Trump's repeated promise to shrink trade deficits, it leaped by 12.2% to $621 billion in 2018, after hitting a record high during his first year in office. However, 2018's deficit is higher than the $552.3bn recorded in 2017. A senior Trump administration official asserted that progress had been made during trade talks over the past two weeks, only to acknowledge that the eventual outcome remains a mystery and that China faced no timetable for responding to the USA priorities.