ISTANBUL
The US foreign trade deficit in August was $59.6 billion, coming below the market expectations of $61.3 billion, according to official data released Wednesday.
The country's foreign trade gap fell 23.8% from $78.2 billion in July, data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed.
The country's exports totaled $280.8 billion in August, up 0.1%, while imports amounted to $340.4 billion, dropping 5.1%.
"The August decrease in the goods and services deficit reflected a decrease in the goods deficit of $18.1 billion to $85.6 billion and an increase in the services surplus of $0.5 billion to $26.1 billion," a statement from the bureau said.
The US goods trade deficit with Canada, one of its major trading partners, decreased by $2.4 billion in August compared to the previous month, falling to $3 billion.
Other trade partners with deficits included Mexico ($16.3 billion), China ($15.4 billion), Vietnam ($14.4 billion), Taiwan ($12.2 billion), the EU ($8.1 billion), Japan ($5.7 billion), South Korea ($5 billion), India ($4.8 billion), Germany ($4.6 billion), Ireland ($3 billion), Malaysia ($1.8 billion), Italy ($1.6 billion), France ($1.2 billion), Israel ($400 million), and Switzerland ($100 million).
The US’ trading partners with a surplus were the Netherlands ($5.1 billion), South and Central America ($4.9 billion), Hong Kong ($1.7 billion), Australia ($1.6 billion), Brazil ($1.2 billion), Singapore ($900 million), the UK ($800 million), Belgium ($500 million) and Saudi Arabia ($300 million).
The data followed President Donald Trump's tariff policy, which imposed blanket levies on most nations and global sectoral tariffs on specific goods, such as copper, aluminum, and auto parts.
He also made trade deals with countries including the UK, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, and the EU.
The US president has often spoken about using tariffs to bring down the US trade deficit with other countries.