U.S. trade deficit widens to $105.6 billion in August

The U.S. trade deficit in August 2026 widened to $105.6 billion, as imports rose faster than exports, the Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis said. The seasonally adjusted goods-and-services gap increased by $12.7 billion, or 13.7%, from a revised $92.8 billion in July, and exceeded the $102 billion consensus forecast cited by CNBC and The Wall Street Journal.

Imports increased $17.2 billion, or 4.3%, to $420.8 billion in August. Exports rose $4.5 billion, or 1.4%, to $315.2 billion. The difference between those monthly increases accounted for the wider deficit.

Why did the U.S. trade deficit widen in August 2026?

The change was concentrated in goods. The goods deficit rose $12.8 billion to $136.6 billion, while the services surplus increased by less than $0.1 billion to $31 billion, according to the agencies.

Goods imports climbed $17.2 billion to $342.2 billion. Industrial supplies and materials accounted for a $9.1 billion increase, including higher imports of crude oil and nonmonetary gold. Capital-goods imports rose $6.2 billion, led by semiconductors and other industrial machinery.

Goods exports rose $4.4 billion to $205.7 billion. Exports of industrial supplies and materials increased $6.3 billion, with gains in nonmonetary gold, crude oil and fuel oil. Capital-goods exports increased $1.3 billion, including semiconductors, computers and computer accessories. Consumer-goods exports declined $2.2 billion.

The headline figures are adjusted for seasonal patterns but not for price changes. On a price-adjusted Census basis, the real goods deficit rose $8.7 billion, or 8.2%, to $114.7 billion. That was smaller than the 11.1% rise in the nominal goods deficit, indicating that price movements accounted for part, though not all, of the monthly increase.

For the three months through August, the average goods-and-services deficit increased $9.9 billion to $89.9 billion. The year-to-date deficit was nevertheless $138.2 billion, or 19.9%, lower than during the comparable period in 2025, the official release said.

Among selected trading partners, the largest August goods deficits on a Census basis were with Mexico, at $27.7 billion, Vietnam, at $24 billion, Taiwan, at $18.3 billion, China, at $16.4 billion, and the European Union, at $11 billion.

What could the report mean for third-quarter growth?

Imports generally subtract from gross domestic product calculations. Oren Klachkin, a financial economist at Nationwide, told CNBC that higher prices overstated the monthly moves and that net trade was set to weigh on third-quarter GDP growth. He described the figures as a sign of strong domestic demand rather than economic weakness.

CNBC reported that Goldman Sachs lowered its third-quarter growth tracking estimate by 0.3 percentage point to 3.1% following the data. The Atlanta Federal Reserve's GDPNow tracker reduced its estimate by 0.1 percentage point to 3.7%, CNBC said. Those estimates are analysts' and model-based assessments, rather than findings in the government trade release.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.