The trade deficit figures could strengthen the resolve of Mr. Trump’s trade advisers, including Mr. Navarro and Robert Lighthizer, the United States trade representative, who want the United States to take a more aggressive stance on trade and are urging tougher action on trading partners that export more to the United States than they import, like China, Mexico and South Korea.

After rolling out trade actions on washing machines and solar panels that were nominally aimed at China, the administration is considering sweeping action to protect American intellectual property from Chinese incursions. American negotiators are working to rewrite trade pacts with Mexico and South Korea, in large part because these countries run large bilateral trade surpluses with the United States.

Some left-leaning groups that support the president’s promises to end offshoring embraced the view that the administration’s trade policies simply haven’t gone far enough.

“The same trade policy that Trump attacks ferociously and promised to speedily replace is still in place,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. “It’s not surprising that the deficit is up because in year one there has been a wide gulf between Trump’s fiery trade rhetoric and action.”

Despite Mr. Trump’s frequent promises to reduce the trade deficit, many economists believe that his trade policies will be largely powerless to reverse the trend. That’s because the overall trade deficit is governed by macroeconomic factors, including the relative growth rates of countries, the value of their currencies, and their saving and investment rates. So while changes in trade policy can shift imports and exports from one country to another, for example, reducing the American trade deficit with China while increasing its trade deficit with Thailand, they are unlikely to reduce the American trade deficit overall.

And Mr. Trump’s signature economic policy so far — the $1.5 trillion tax cut — is likely to widen the trade deficit in coming years by encouraging more investment in the United States, many economists say.