U.S. trade deficit in goods top $1 trillion in 2021 for first time ever
The numbers: The U.S. trade deficit in goods topped $1 trillion in 2021 for the first time ever, as an economic recovery enabled Americans to snap up a record amount of imports such as toys, cell phones and appliances.
For all of 2021, the trade gap in goods rose to $1.08 trillion from $893.5 billion in the prior year. The deficit in 2020 had also been a record high.
The deficit in goods increased 3% in December to $101 billion from $98 billion, according to an advanced government estimate. It was the biggest monthly increase on record.
When President Joe Biden was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2021, the federal government’s debt stood at $27,751,896,236,414.77.
When his first year in office ended on Jan. 20, 2022, it stood at $29,867,021,509,573.92.
That means that during Biden’s first 12 months in office, the federal debt grew by more than $2 trillion — or $2,115,125,273,159.15 to be exact.
How do you put that in perspective?
The United States of America had existed for 210 years — and 40 presidents had served as this nation’s chief executive — before the debt first topped $2 trillion in 1986.
On Jan. 1, 1790, when President George Washington was serving his first year in office, the total federal debt was $71,060,508.50, according to data published by the U.S. Treasury.
By Jan. 1, 1835, when President Andrew Jackson was in his second term, it had actually dropped to $33,733.05. He then paid it off entirely.