The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis have reported a decrease in the U.S. goods and services deficit for August 2024. The deficit stood at $70.4 billion, down from $78.9 billion in July.
In August, exports increased to $271.8 billion, a rise of $5.3 billion compared to July, while imports decreased by $3.2 billion to $342.2 billion.
The reduction in the deficit was attributed to an $8.4 billion decrease in the goods deficit, bringing it to $94.9 billion, alongside a slight increase in the services surplus by $0.1 billion to reach $24.4 billion.
For the year-to-date figures, there has been an increase of $47.1 billion or 8.9 percent in the goods and services deficit compared to the same period last year, with exports rising by 3.9 percent and imports by 4.9 percent.
Examining three-month moving averages ending in August, there was a decrease of $1.6 billion in the average goods and services deficit to reach $74.1 billion.
Exports of goods saw a rise of $4.4 billion reaching $179.4 billion in August, driven by increases across several categories including capital goods and consumer goods.
Services exports also rose by $0.9 billion to total $92.3 billion for August with travel contributing significantly.
On the import side, there was a decrease of $3.9 billion bringing imports of goods down to $274.3 billion with notable declines in industrial supplies and automotive vehicles.
Imports of services saw an increase of $0.7 billion reaching a total of $67.9 billion for August due primarily to rises in travel-related expenses and charges for intellectual property use.
Real terms adjustments showed an 8.6 percent decrease in the real goods deficit which stood at $88.6 billion as real exports grew by 3.8 percent while real imports fell by 1.3 percent.
Revisions were made for July's data with minor adjustments both upward and downward across various categories for exports and imports.
In terms of trade balances with specific countries, surpluses were noted with nations such as Netherlands ($5.5B) and Australia ($1B), whereas deficits persisted with China ($24B) among others.