The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services shrank to $29.4 billion in October, down from $48.1 billion the prior month as the Trump administration’s tariffs continued to weigh on trade, data from the Commerce Department showed on Thursday. The figure was the lowest monthly trade deficit recorded since June 2009.
Imports in October fell 3.2 percent to $331.4 billion from the previous month, while exports rose 2.6 percent to $302 billion. Because exports grew more than imports, the U.S. trade deficit shrank, in line with President Trump’s goals.
Trade flows have fluctuated wildly this year because of Mr. Trump’s tariffs. The president announced sweeping global tariffs in April, before pausing them for several months to carry out trade negotiations. Those tariffs went back into effect on Aug. 7.
On Aug. 29, the Trump administration also ended the “de minimis” exemption, which allowed foreign shipments valued at less than $800 to come into the United States tariff-free.
The administration has also imposed a variety of tariffs on products and sectors it deemed important to national security, including steel, copper and upholstered furniture. As of November, the U.S. effective tariff rate had climbed to more than 16 percent, the highest level since 1935, according to the Budget Lab at Yale, making it significantly more expensive for importers to bring goods into the country.
The Trump administration has pointed to the lower monthly trade deficits in recent months as evidence that its trade policies were working. But economists have said trade patterns have been distorted by businesses’ efforts to avoid paying tariffs, and cautioned against drawing too many conclusions from a few months of data.
Companies stockpiled large amounts of inventory earlier this year before tariffs went into effect, then subsequently reduced their purchases. The question for economists now is whether trade will return to more normal levels as company stockpiles go down, or if tariffs will continue to depress imports.
For the year through October, the trade deficit in goods and services is up more than 7.7 percent from the same period in 2024, the data, which is compiled by the Census Bureau, showed. Exports are up 6.3 percent annually, while imports have risen 6.6 percent so far this year.
Tariffs could undergo more changes in the weeks to come. The Supreme Court is set to rule soon on the legality of many of the tariffs that Mr. Trump issued using a 1970s emergency law. But Trump officials have said that if those tariffs were struck down, they would use other authorities to impose new duties.
Ana Swanson covers trade and international economics for The Times and is based in Washington. She has been a journalist for more than a decade.
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