America’s trade gap expands by 11.6 per cent to $558 billion in 2011

US trade deficit expanded by 11.6 per cent to $558 billion in 2011, the highest since 2008, even as America's bilateral trade deficit with China soared 8.2 per cent to $295.5 billion, figures revealed by the Commerce Department showed.

While exports from the US expanded by 14.5 per cent to a record $2.1 trillion, imports grew 13.8 per cent to $2.7 trillion. Automobile and petroleum imports were the highest in recent years.

The monthly trade gap in December 2011 also expanded to $48.8 billion, as imports during the month climbed to the highest level since July 2008, barely weeks before the financial crisis rocked the world.
 
While America's exports to China shot up by 13.1 per cent to $103.9 billion in 2011, imports also grew by 9.4 per cent to $399.3 billion, resulting in a huge trade gap. The US administration is under pressure from politicians who want tough action to be taken against China, for failure to revalue its currency.

Last year, the Senate, controlled by the Democrats, passed a legislation to force China to raise its currency against the US dollar, but the Republican-controlled House of Representatives blocked it. Many American politicians believe that China deliberately undervalues its currency to give its exporters an unfair price advantage.

US President Barack Obama will be meeting China's vice-president Xi Jinping – who is expected to assume the presidency next year – at the White House on Tuesday. He is expected to take up the issue of China's under-valued currency.

The meeting will take place on the 40th anniversary of US president Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China, which paved the way for normalisation of ties between the two giants.