FX.co ★ US Goods Trade Deficit Narrows Sharply in August

In August 2025, the United States experienced a significant reduction in its trade deficit for goods, narrowing by $17.3 billion from the previous month to a figure of $85.5 billion. This figure surpassed market predictions, which had anticipated a deficit of $95.65 billion, as reported in a preliminary estimate. On the import side, there was a 7.0% decrease from the previous month, reaching $261.6 billion. This decline was primarily driven by reduced imports of industrial supplies (a decrease of 18.9% to $49.4 billion), foods and beverages (down by 8.7% to $16.9 billion), consumer goods (a drop of 6.4% to $55.1 billion), and capital goods (down by 4.4% to $92.0 billion). Conversely, there was an increase in imports of other goods, which rose by 6.9% to $13.7 billion, and automotive vehicles, which saw a 1.7% rise to reach $34.5 billion. On the export front, there was a 1.3% decline, bringing the total to $176.1 billion. This decrease was largely due to reduced exports in industrial supplies (a fall of 1.4% to $59.3 billion), consumer goods (down by 6.8% to $21.2 billion), other goods (a decrease of 2.1% to $8.5 billion), and automotive vehicles (a reduction of 3.0% to $12.7 billion). These declines were partly mitigated by an increase in exports of capital goods, which rose by 1.1% to $60.6 billion, and foods and beverages, which saw a modest growth of 0.3% to $13.8 billion.