The U.S. merchandise trade deficit surged 17.1% higher year over year in September to reach $76.0 billion, the highest since July 2018. Import growth of 11.2% was driven in large part by a 19.1% rise in industrial supplies, including energy, though consumer goods imports also climbed by 11.2%. The latter would suggest that retailers may have been accelerating imports ahead of the imposition of 10% duties on $200 billion of Chinese exports in late September. The acceleration in growth in imports from China, shown by a 5.4% rise in seaborne shipments from 0.8% in August, paints a similar p...