U.S. Trade Deficit Widened to $105.6 Billion in August as Imports Rose Faster Than Exports

Imports accounted for the wider monthly gap

The Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis said the seasonally adjusted goods and services deficit was $105.6 billion in August, up $12.7 billion from a revised $92.8 billion in July. The agencies described the increase as 13.7 percent. Exports were $315.2 billion, $4.5 billion, or 1.4 percent, above July. Imports were $420.8 billion, $17.2 billion, or 4.3 percent, above July. The release says statistical significance is not applicable or not measurable, and the figures are adjusted for seasonality but not for price changes.

The monthly widening was a goods result. The goods deficit increased $12.8 billion to $136.6 billion, while the services surplus rose by less than $0.1 billion, to $31.0 billion. Services still offset part of the goods gap, but that offset did not expand in any material way. Subtracting the published July deficit from the August level produces $12.8 billion, one-tenth of a billion more than the $12.7 billion increase stated in the text. That difference is consistent with rounding to tenths of a billion rather than a second official estimate.

Goods flows, not services, drove the change

Goods exports increased $4.4 billion to $205.7 billion. On a Census basis they rose $4.2 billion, and net balance-of-payments adjustments increased $0.3 billion. Industrial supplies and materials rose $6.3 billion, including nonmonetary gold up $2.3 billion, crude oil up $2.0 billion, and fuel oil up $1.2 billion. Capital goods rose $1.3 billion, with semiconductors up $1.0 billion, computers up $0.9 billion, and computer accessories up $0.9 billion. Civilian aircraft fell $1.0 billion. Consumer goods fell $2.2 billion, while pharmaceutical preparations fell $2.4 billion, a larger decline than the consumer-goods category itself. The release does not identify the offsetting consumer-goods lines implied by that difference.

Goods imports increased $17.2 billion to $342.2 billion. Census-basis goods imports rose $17.4 billion, and net balance-of-payments adjustments decreased $0.2 billion. Industrial supplies and materials increased $9.1 billion, including crude oil up $3.3 billion and nonmonetary gold up $3.1 billion. Capital goods increased $6.2 billion, with semiconductors up $2.4 billion and other industrial machinery up $1.3 billion, while computer accessories fell $1.6 billion. Services exports edged up by less than $0.1 billion to $109.5 billion: intellectual-property charges rose $0.2 billion and other business services rose $0.1 billion, while travel fell $0.2 billion and financial services fell $0.1 billion. Services imports also rose by less than $0.1 billion, to $78.5 billion, as transport rose $0.4 billion, intellectual-property charges fell $0.2 billion, and travel fell $0.1 billion.

Volumes rose, but by less than nominal values

In 2017 dollars on a Census basis, the real goods deficit increased $8.7 billion, or 8.2 percent, to $114.7 billion, compared with an 11.1 percent increase in the nominal goods deficit. Real goods exports rose $1.9 billion, or 1.3 percent, to $153.0 billion, against a 2.1 percent nominal increase. Real goods imports rose $10.7 billion, or 4.1 percent, to $267.7 billion, against a 5.4 percent nominal increase. The smaller real percentage change indicates that prices contributed to the nominal widening. It does not indicate that quantities were flat: real imports still rose by $10.7 billion, against a $1.9 billion rise in real exports.

The release does not split that price effect by commodity, so the share attributable to crude oil or other industrial supplies cannot be read from these tables. Nonmonetary gold requires a further caution. BEA says that, when these statistics enter the national accounts, including gross domestic product, it replaces nonmonetary-gold exports and imports with an adjustment equal to the difference between domestic production and industrial use. That adjustment is not published in this release. Gold can therefore move the trade balance without an equivalent movement in GDP, and the size of any difference is not available here.

Bilateral levels, and the three changes reported

The country and area figures are Census-basis levels, not a complete set of monthly changes. August surpluses included the Netherlands at $7.7 billion, South and Central America at $5.6 billion, the United Kingdom at $3.6 billion, Hong Kong at $2.3 billion, Brazil at $1.3 billion, Belgium at $1.2 billion, Australia at $0.6 billion, and Saudi Arabia at $0.4 billion. Deficits included Mexico at $27.7 billion, Vietnam at $24.0 billion, Taiwan at $18.3 billion, China at $16.4 billion, the European Union at $11.0 billion, South Korea at $9.4 billion, Canada at $7.1 billion, India and Germany at $6.2 billion each, Malaysia at $6.0 billion, Italy at $4.3 billion, Japan at $3.7 billion, Ireland at $2.5 billion, France at $1.4 billion, Israel at $0.8 billion, Switzerland at $0.4 billion, and Singapore at $0.3 billion. A large August deficit is not, by itself, evidence that the bilateral gap widened.

The release specifies three movements. The deficit with Canada increased $4.1 billion to $7.1 billion; exports rose $0.5 billion to $29.9 billion and imports rose $4.6 billion to $37.1 billion. The balance with Singapore shifted from a $1.9 billion surplus in July to a $0.3 billion deficit, as exports fell $1.1 billion to $3.7 billion and imports rose $1.2 billion to $4.0 billion. The deficit with Ireland decreased $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion, with exports up $0.1 billion to $1.7 billion and imports down $1.4 billion to $4.2 billion. Canada’s widening came from imports, Ireland’s narrowing came from lower imports, and Singapore’s swing involved both sides.

A smaller year-to-date gap, a higher recent average

Year to date, the goods and services deficit decreased $138.2 billion, or 19.9 percent, from the same period in 2025. Exports increased $267.7 billion, or 11.8 percent, and imports increased $129.5 billion, or 4.4 percent. On that comparison, exports outpaced imports, and August did not reverse the cumulative decline. The three-month averages tell a more recent story. The average deficit increased $9.9 billion to $89.9 billion for the three months ending in August, as average exports fell $1.6 billion to $314.4 billion and average imports rose $8.3 billion to $404.3 billion. Versus the three months ending in August 2025, the average deficit was $25.4 billion larger, average exports were $31.1 billion larger, and average imports were $56.5 billion larger.

July revisions limit how firmly August can be compared with the prior month. Goods exports were revised up $0.2 billion and services exports down $0.2 billion; goods imports were revised up $4.4 billion and services imports down $0.2 billion. That goods-import revision is large beside the $4.5 billion August increase in total exports, and the revised July deficit of $92.8 billion already includes it. August goods carry-over was $0.1 billion, or 0.1 percent, for exports and $0.2 billion, or less than 0.1 percent, for imports. The September release is scheduled for November 4. Statistics are seasonally adjusted and, unless noted, on a balance-of-payments basis. U.S. exports to Canada are derived from Canadian import data, with coverage differences that include third-country shipments of $249.1 million in June 2026. This release also replaces the name Nauru with Naoero, presented as a naming alignment rather than a revision to the totals.

Source

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis published this record on 2026-10-06. Pennington Financial accessed it on 2026-10-09.