The U.S. trade deficit widened sharply in July to reach the highest level since mid-2022, according to government data released Wednesday, as imports rose more quickly than exports.

Overall, the trade gap increased by 7.9% to $78.8 billion, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said.

The growth was slightly more than analysts expected and the widest since June 2022.

Businesses were likely to be frontloading imports ahead of an increase in tariffs, analysts say, given that Washington earlier unveiled plans to hike levies on Chinese goods ranging from electric vehicles to solar panels.

In July, imports jumped 2.1% to $345.4 billion, boosted by capital goods like computer accessories and industrial supplies.

Exports, meanwhile, edged up 0.5% to $266.6 billion, the Commerce Department report said.

Among individual segments, exports of semiconductors rose, but auto shipments and those of consumer goods fell as well.

U.S. consumer demand has increased in the face of high interest rates, even as the central bank hiked the benchmark lending rate in recent years to counter soaring inflation.

Households have continued spending, dipping into savings, supported by a robust jobs market.

A reduction in interest rates, widely expected later this month, could boost the world's biggest economy further.

Exports have had a harder time with global demand weakening and with a strong dollar, analysts earlier noted.

China trade

In July, the U.S. goods deficit with China increased by $4.9 billion to $27.2 billion as exports fell and imports picked up.

"The trade gap with China blew out in July," said economists Carl Weinberg and Rubeela Farooqi of High-Frequency Economics in a note.

"The surge in imports may reflect efforts to get goods into the U.S. before elections bring more tariffs on their products at the border," the note added.

But quarterly, the deficit with China – a contentious issue during the trade war between both countries – narrowed to $68.2 billion in the second quarter of this year.

This was the smallest since the first quarter of 2020.

"This report confirms that trade continues to drag down GDP (gross domestic product) growth at the start of the third quarter," said Weinberg and Farooqi.