Data released Wednesday morning by the Commerce Department showed that U.S. imports of goods and services grew 6.6 percent to a record $4.1 trillion, as Americans bought large amounts of auto parts, weight-loss drugs, computers and food from other countries.

China’s trade surplus hit a record high in 2024, a symbolically potent $1 trillion. The optics of that rounded-up figure—the exact number was $992.2 billion—dovetail neatly with US President Donald Trump’s pejorative rhetoric regarding China’s status as a trade creditor and his stated aim of using tariffs to reduce the US trade deficit.

The U.S. trade deficit widened sharply in December as imports surged to a record high against the backdrop of tariff threats, which might have prompted businesses to rush purchases of foreign-made goods like finished metals and computers.