---
title: "U.S. trade deficit widened to $105.6 billion, more than expected and a drag on growth"
url: "https://etf.net/news/u-s-trade-deficit-widened-to-105-6-billion-more-than-expected-and-a-drag-on-growth-2026-10-06"
published_at: "2026-10-06T14:18:32.523Z"
updated_at: "2026-10-06T14:18:32.523Z"
byline: "ETF.net Research"
---

# U.S. trade deficit widened to $105.6 billion, more than expected and a drag on growth

The U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported an August trade gap of $105.6 billion on Tuesday, October 6, up $12.7 billion from July, the widest since March 2025 and above the $102.1 billion Bloomberg survey median.

By ETF.net Research. Published Oct 6, 2026.

The U.S. trade deficit widened to **$105.6 billion** in August, more than expected and the widest since March 2025, as imports rose to an all-time high.

The gap grew $12.7 billion, or 13.7%, from a revised $92.8 billion in July. It was $3.5 billion wider than the $102.1 billion median in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Imports rose $17.2 billion, or 4.3%, to $420.8 billion. Exports rose $4.5 billion, or 1.4%, to $315.2 billion.

The goods deficit rose $12.8 billion to $136.6 billion. The services surplus rose by less than $0.1 billion, to $31.0 billion.

Imports of industrial supplies rose $9.1 billion, including $3.3 billion more crude oil and $3.1 billion more gold. Imports of capital goods rose $6.2 billion, including $2.4 billion more semiconductors.

Gold exports rose $2.3 billion, so gold added $0.8 billion to the deficit on net.

Adjusting for prices, the goods deficit rose 8.2%, compared with 11.1% before that adjustment.

## What it means for growth

On September 30, the U.S. Census Bureau's advance report put the August goods deficit at $132.6 billion, wider than the $115 billion economists had forecast.

The same day, the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow model, a running estimate built only from data already released, put the contribution of trade to third-quarter growth at minus 2.60 percentage points, from minus 1.37 percentage points. Its growth estimate was 3.7% as of October 1.

Economists estimate trade could cut as much as **2.5 percentage points** from third-quarter growth, the subtraction that comes when imports rise faster than exports.

Source: etf.net, https://etf.net/news/u-s-trade-deficit-widened-to-105-6-billion-more-than-expected-and-a-drag-on-growth-2026-10-06. Please cite the page URL.