The US Census Bureau and the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that the goods and services deficit was $40.7 billion in August, up $1.2 billion from $39.5 billion in July, revised.
August exports were $187.9 billion, $1.5 billion more than July exports. August imports were $228.6 billion, $2.6 billion more than July imports.
The August increase in the goods and services deficit reflected a decrease in the goods deficit of less than $0.1 billion to $60.3 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of $1.2 billion to $19.6 billion.
Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit decreased $4.3 billion, or 1.3 percent, from the same period in 2015. Exports decreased $62.4 billion or 4.1 percent. Imports decreased $66.8 billion or 3.6 percent.
Year-over-year, the average goods and services deficit decreased $0.9 billion from the three months ending in August 2015. Average exports of goods and services decreased $3.3 billion from August 2015. Average imports of goods and services decreased $4.2 billion from August 2015.