US Goods Trade Deficit Widens to $134.9 Billion
The Census Bureau said the September deficit grew from August as imports increased more than exports.
The US Census Bureau's advance international trade release reports that the goods deficit increased to $134.9 billion in September from $132.1 billion in August. The bureau said imports increased more than exports, explaining the rise in the deficit.
The two figures give a direct month-to-month comparison: September's reported deficit was higher than August's. The release centres on trade in goods and identifies the relative movement in imports and exports, but the summary provides no dollar totals for either flow. It also does not give further detail on which goods or trading partners accounted for the change.
For readers following US trade, the main takeaway is that the goods deficit widened in September, and the bureau linked that movement to imports increasing more than exports. The comparison matters because it shows the direction of change in the goods balance from one month to the next. The reported figures are the advance estimates for September and August, as described in the release.