The U.S. trade deficit — a measure of the difference between what the country imports and what it exports — ticked downward slightly in September from the previous month but remained at relatively high levels, defying efforts by the Trump administration to shrink it.
The trade deficit in goods and services dropped to $105 billion in September, a 0.7 percent decrease from August. The metric has steadily ticked up in recent months, driven by increasing U.S. imports of expensive artificial intelligence chips. While the measure retreated slightly from a record high the prior month, it was still the second largest monthly total since President Trump imposed his global tariffs in April 2025.
The high trade deficit has come as bad news for the Trump administration, which sees the metric as a sign of weakness in America’s manufacturing sector. Mr. Trump has tried to reduce the trade deficit by imposing hefty tariffs on many American imports, a goal that many economists had questioned.
Mr. Trump’s tariffs also came under fire during the midterm elections, as voters blamed them for adding to a higher cost of living.
The narrowing deficit stemmed from an increase in U.S. exports, which hit $321.5 billion. That was up 1.9 percent from the previous month, driven by exports of computers, soybeans, crude oil and aircraft. Imports grew 1.2 percent from the prior month, to reach a record $426.6 billion.
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