Exports from the U.S. rose 9.4% in June from May to $158.3 billion. Port of Oakland in California.
Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—U.S. exports and imports both rose in June for the first time in six months as the global economy began climbing out of the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Exports from the U.S. rose 9.4% in June from May to $158.3 billion, the Commerce Department said in a report Wednesday. Imports rose 4.7% to $208.9 billion. The deficit narrowed 7.5% to $50.7 billion.
“While trade flows rebounded in June, they still remained way off from where they were in February,” said Shannon Seery, an economist at Wells Fargo & Co. “The flows just declined so dramatically in the prior three months.”
The gains reflected a partial economic recovery in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere as lockdown restrictions intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus were eased. But a resurgence of the virus in the U.S. and some other countries suggests that a rebound in economic growth and trade might be uneven.
Separate reports on Wednesday showed that business improved for U.S. service industries in July.
The Institute for Supply Management’s nonmanufacturing index of activity in industries such as travel, health care, restaurants and real estate rose to 58.1 from 57.1 in June.
IHS Markit said its U.S. services index edged up to 50 in July from 47.9 a month earlier. Readings above 50 indicate expansion, while a level below that shows a contraction. Fifteen of 18 industries tracked by the ISM index reported increased activity, led by transportation, retailing and education.
Wednesday’s Commerce Department report showed that the rise in exports was fueled by a 14% jump in shipments of goods, which had cratered in April and May. Exports of services rose 1%.
Consumer demand picked up in June as parts of the U.S. economy reopened. Unemployment fell, and retail sales rose as consumers bought more cars, clothing and electronics.
Those trends were reflected in a 10% rise in imports of consumer goods. A 4.7% increase in imports of capital goods, such as computers and semiconductors, pointed to stronger business investment.
The automotive industry saw both imports and exports more than double in June from May. Oliver Zipse, chief executive at German auto maker BMW AG —the largest exporter of U.S.-made vehicles in recent years—said in a Wednesday earnings release that the company was “cautiously optimistic for the second half of the year,” while keeping an eye on fluctuations in regional demand.
Global trade tumbled in the first half of the year, as the coronavirus pandemic and U.S.-China tensions caused multinationals to reconsider globe-spanning supply chains. The World Trade Organization’s economists estimate that trade flows will fall by at least 13% during 2020 as a whole, and possibly by much more.
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Wednesday’s data showed trade in services remained relatively depressed compared with February levels. But most of the decline stemmed from a sharp decline in international travel as tourists stayed home and business travelers shifted to videoconferencing.
“At the beginning of April, we saw the sharpest, deepest drop in demand in history, far worse than 9/11 or the Great Recession or any other stress-test scenario that anyone had modeled,” United Airlines Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Scott Kirby said in a conference call last month.
“And near the end of the [second] quarter, just as optimism about a recovery was beginning to build, we watched demand fade once again as Covid-19 spiked in the Sun Belt,” he added.
On the other hand, U.S. exports of intellectual property and financial and business services have all declined only modestly since the onset of the pandemic.
U.S. imports would have risen faster in June if not for a drop in purchases of nonmonetary gold, mostly from Switzerland. Those imports, which include gold bullion and bars but not official money, soared in April and May, in what economists say likely reflects investors’ rush into asset classes they perceive to be safe at times of market turmoil.
—Gwynn Guilford and Ben Foldy contributed to this article.
Write to Paul Kiernan at paul.kiernan@wsj.com
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