(Bloomberg) — The US merchandise-trade deficit unexpectedly widened in August, reflecting a jump in the value of imports of industrial supplies such as petroleum products.
The shortfall in goods trade rose 11.5% from the prior month to $132.6 billion, the widest since early 2025, Commerce Department data showed Wednesday.
The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists was a $115 billion deficit. The figures aren’t adjusted for inflation.
Merchandise imports increased 5.5%, led by a 16.6% surge in the value of inbound shipments of industrial supplies. Imports of capital goods — a category that includes computers and accessories, semiconductors and telecommunications equipment — also rose.
U.S. exports of goods climbed 1.9%, which also included a pickup in outbound shipments of industrial supplies.
The trade deficit has fluctuated as the Iran war helped boost global demand for US petroleum products and American firms stockpiled goods and materials to mitigate supply-chain disruptions. At the same time, imports of equipment tied to the artificial-intelligence buildout have soared.
Meanwhile, figures on retail inventories, released alongside the goods trade data, rose 0.3%. Wholesalers increased 0.7%.
The trade and inventories data will help inform the government’s estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product. Prior to the latest merchandise trade figures, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDPNow model saw net exports reducing GDP growth by 1.37 percentage points. In the second quarter, they subtracted 1.14 percentage points from GDP.
More complete August trade figures that include the balance on the services account and inflation-adjusted numbers on merchandise trade are due Oct. 6.
(Adds inventories and details of imports and exports.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
