The U.S. trade deficit for goods and services rose by 43% between April and May, growing from $54.6 billion to $77.6 billion between the two months, reaching its highest level in more than a year.

According to The New York Times, U.S. goods and services imports increased by 3.3% month-to-month to an all-time high of $395.3 billion, with the country bringing in more pharmaceuticals, smartphones, cars and equipment used for data centers. Meanwhile, U.S. goods and services exports dropped by 3.2% over that same period to $317.7 billion. Gold, natural gas, computers and pharmaceuticals all fell from the previous month. 

The trend was largely driven by the U.S. data center boom, which had companies bringing in a record amount of machinery, computers, semiconductors and other equipment needed to support the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure. It also reflected ongoing front-loading by businesses looking to get ahead of expected tariffs currently being planned by the Trump administration, following a U.S. Supreme Court decision in February that struck down White House levies enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. 

Broken out by individual categories, semiconductor imports rose by $1.2 billion, while crude oil imports jumped by $1.5 billion, imports of automotive parts and engines increased by $2.2 billion, and passenger car imports rose by $1 billion. The largest trade deficits the U.S. had by country were with Vietnam ($20.6 billion), Mexico ($20.1 billion), Taiwan ($19.4 billion), China ($14.5 billion) and the European Union ($9.3 billion). The largest trade surpluses were with the Netherlands ($9.1 billion), Hong Kong ($5.6 billion), Australia ($1.9 billion) and the United Kingdom ($1.4 billion).

President Donald Trump has been vigorously enacting policies designed to shrink the U.S. trade deficit since the start of his second term, using the threat of sweeping tariffs to gain more favorable trade deals with other nations. The result so far has been undramatic. Over the 16 months since Trump returned to the White House, the U.S. average monthly trade deficit in goods has hovered around $96 billion, down roughly 5% compared to the previous 16 months.