Economist: Trade gap undermines recovery

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Former U.S. International Trade Commission economist Peter Morici warned a ballooning trade deficit would undermine an economic recovery.

"The trade deficit was a principal cause of the Great Recession. Now, it threatens to torpedo the economic recovery and keep unemployment above 10 percent for the foreseeable future," Morici wrote in a statement released Wednesday.

Figures on U.S. trade in goods and services are due Friday. Economists predict the gap will grow from $30.7 billion in August to $32 billion in September.

"More than anything else, U.S. businesses need customers -- more sales of U.S.-made goods and services -- to get the economy rolling and hire more Americans," Morici wrote.

The current trade gap is 2.7 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product, meaning it is subtracting more from the economy than the $787 billion federal stimulus package is adding to it, said Morici, currently a professor of economics at the University of Maryland.