U.S. Trade Deficit Falls $1.5B to $54B in July

U.S.-China Trade Deficit for Goods Narrows $0.5B to $29.5B

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced the U.S. trade deficit for goods and services fell to $54.0 billion in July, down $1.5 billion from a revised $55.5 billion in June.

The forecasts ranged from a high of $-55.4 billion to a low of $-52.9 billion. The consensus forecast just barely missed at $-53.5 billion.

Exports were up $1.2 billion from June to $207.4 billion, while imports fell $0.4 billion to $261.4 billion. The narrowing of the trade gap for goods and services was driven by a $1.6 billion decline in the goods deficit to $73.7 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of $0.1 billion to $19.7 billion.

Still, year-to-date, the trade deficit for goods and services rose $28.2 billion, or 8.2%, from the same period in 2018. Exports fell $3.4 billion, or 0.2%. Imports rose $24.9 billion, or 1.4%.

The average goods and services deficit rose $0.7 billion to $55.1 billion for the three months ending in July. Average exports rose $0.5 billion to $208.0 billion, while average imports increased $1.2 billion to $263.1 billion.

The politically-sensitive trade in goods deficit with China fell $0.5 billion to $29.6 billion in July. Exports for goods fell $0.3 billion to $9.3 billion, but imports fell by a larger $0.8 billion to $39.0 billion.

Overall, the goods and services deficit with China widened $-8,576 billion.