Updated:
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to $105.6 billion in August, rising 13.7% from a revised $92.8 billion in July as imports grew much faster than exports. The Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Tuesday, October 6, that imports increased $17.2 billion to $420.8 billion, while exports rose $4.5 billion to $315.2 billion.
The result exceeded the $100.8 billion shortfall economists expected, according to Reuters reporting carried by Investing.com. The increase was concentrated in goods: the goods deficit expanded by $12.8 billion to $136.6 billion, while the services surplus edged up by less than $0.1 billion to $31 billion.
Capital goods and industrial supplies led import growth
Goods imports climbed $17.2 billion to $342.2 billion. The government’s breakdown showed imports of industrial supplies and materials rising $9.1 billion, including a $3.3 billion increase in crude oil and a $3.1 billion increase in nonmonetary gold. Capital-goods imports increased $6.2 billion.
Semiconductors accounted for $2.4 billion of the increase in capital-goods imports, and other industrial machinery added $1.3 billion. Computer accessories moved in the opposite direction, decreasing $1.6 billion. Census Bureau figures also showed that imports of capital goods, at $146.4 billion, were the highest on record.
Investing.com’s report, citing Reuters, linked the rise in imports to domestic demand and purchases of equipment associated with artificial-intelligence infrastructure. The monthly trade release identifies the commodity changes but does not attribute them to particular projects or buyers, so the figures alone do not establish how much of the import increase came from AI-related investment.
Exports increased, but by less than imports
Exports of goods advanced $4.4 billion to $205.7 billion. Industrial supplies and materials rose $6.3 billion, with increases in nonmonetary gold, crude oil and fuel oil. Capital-goods exports also increased, including a $1 billion gain in semiconductors.
Those gains were partly offset by a $2.2 billion decline in consumer-goods exports, including a $2.4 billion decrease in pharmaceutical preparations, and a $1 billion drop in civilian aircraft exports. Services exports were nearly unchanged at $109.5 billion. Overall, the rise in exports was too small to counter the substantially larger increase in imports.
Services imports also changed little, increasing by less than $0.1 billion to $78.5 billion. Transport services rose $0.4 billion, while charges for the use of intellectual property and travel declined. The services surplus therefore remained close to July’s level and did little to offset the deterioration in the goods balance.
July was revised as the deficit widened
The agencies revised July’s total trade deficit to $92.8 billion. In the July report issued September 3, the figure had been given as $88.6 billion; the August release says July goods imports were revised up by $4.4 billion, while services imports were revised down by $0.2 billion.
The latest monthly increase also lifted the three-month average deficit to $89.9 billion for the period ending in August, up $9.9 billion. Over that same period, average imports reached $404.3 billion, an $8.3 billion increase, while average exports slipped $1.6 billion to $314.4 billion. These averages provide a broader measure than a single month, though they also show imports growing faster than exports in the latest period.
Year-to-date gap remains below 2025 level
Despite August’s monthly widening, the cumulative goods-and-services deficit for January through August was $138.2 billion, or 19.9%, lower than in the same period of 2025. Exports over those eight months were up $267.7 billion, or 11.8%, year over year, while imports rose $129.5 billion, or 4.4%.
The August figures are seasonally adjusted but not adjusted for price changes in the headline totals. The agencies also reported a rise in the real goods deficit—measured in chained 2017 dollars—to $114.7 billion, up $8.7 billion, or 8.2%, from July. The price-adjusted measure helps distinguish changes in trade volumes from changes in nominal values, but it covers goods rather than the full goods-and-services balance.
Next release is scheduled for November 4
Trade data matter for economic accounts because exports and imports contribute to the calculation of gross domestic product, but one monthly report does not by itself determine quarterly growth. Reuters reported that economists expected trade to weigh on third-quarter GDP, while consumer spending was expected to support overall expansion; those are estimates, not final GDP figures.
The Census Bureau and BEA scheduled the next monthly international trade report, covering September, for Wednesday, November 4, 2026. Until that release, the August report establishes a sharper monthly widening driven by import growth, alongside a year-to-date deficit that remains lower than a year earlier.
