US EditionU.S. trade deficit drops 24% in August as Trump’s tariffs reduce imports
The trade deficit dropped to $59.6 billion due to a 5.1% import decline after tariffs raised the U.S. effective rate to over 18%, the highest since 1934.
- In August, the Commerce Department reported the United States trade deficit fell nearly 24% to $59.6 billion as imports declined 5.1% to $340.4 billion and exports edged up to $280.8 billion.
- Those tariffs, implemented Aug. 7, raised the U.S. effective tariff rate to more than 18%, sharply reducing imports, officials and data show.
- Nonmonetary gold and certain capital goods drove the import decline, led by drops in computer accessories and communications equipment, while trade with Switzerland and Canada shifted noticeably.
- The delayed Commerce Department report showed a bigger narrowing than markets expected, arriving after Wall Street forecast a $60.3 billion deficit, which economists say will boost third-quarter GDP.
- Despite August's swing, broader 2025 trends and court challenges complicate the outlook as the trade deficit through August $713.6 billion rises 25%, while the U.S. Supreme Court weighs legal challenges to tariffs.
115 Articles
115 Articles
Washington.- President Donald Trump's generalized tariffs affected trade in August, when imports of goods and services fell by 5.1 percent, to $340.4 billion, after export taxes from some 90 countries came into effect on August 7, data recently published by the Department of Commerce showed on Wednesday. Data, which incorporates less than a month of Trump's new tariffs, illustrates how the sharp increase in trade taxes has disrupted the lives of…
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U.S. trade deficit dropped sharply in August
The U.S. trade deficit dropped from $78.2 billion in July to $59.6 billion in August, with imports dipping amid a spate of higher tariffs, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said in their latest monthly report. August imports totaled $340.4 billion, $18.4 billion less than in July, the report shows. “The August decrease in the goods and services deficit reflected a decrease in the goods deficit of $18.1 billion to $8…
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