WASHINGTON – The U.S. international trade gap widened very slightly in July to $43.7 billion, smaller than the $44.8 billion gap expected and following a revised smaller $43.5 billion gap in June, data released by the Commerce Department Wednesday morning showed.
The modestly larger trade gap was the result of a 0.3% decline in exports that was partially offset by a 0.2% decrease in imports.
The revised Census goods gap reported Thursday was much smaller than the advance estimate of $65.1 billion, coming in at $63.9 billion, which could explain the forecast miss.
The Census gap was unchanged from June after rounding. The overall BOP goods gap narrowed slightly to $65.3 billion from $65.4 billion in June and was the lowest since December 2016.
In addition, the services surplus narrowed to $21.6 billion from $21.8 billion.
The chained goods gap did widen to $61.6 billion from $60.8 billion in June, but it narrowed from the second quarter average of $62.4 billion, a positive for third quarter GDP.
The petroleum gap narrowed sharply to $3.1 billion in July from $4.5 billion in June, while the nonpetroleum gap widened modestly to $60.8 billion from $59.5 billion.
Exports were pulled down by declines in industrial supplies, autos, and consumer goods that were offset by gains in foods, feeds and beverages and capital goods.
Imports were cut by declines in industrial supplies, especially oil, autos, and the "other goods" category. These were offset by a $1.3 billion gain in capital goods imports, led by computer accessories and computers.
The unadjusted trade gaps with Canada, the EU, China, and Japan all widened in July, but the trade gap narrowed with Mexico.
