The US issued August trade data, and the deficit narrowed sharply to $59.6 billion, and gold imports plummeted

The Zhitong Finance App learned that after data was delayed due to the shutdown of the federal government, the latest data released by the US Department of Commerce on Wednesday showed that the US trade deficit narrowed significantly in August. As a series of global tariffs announced by President Trump officially came into effect in August, US imports fell sharply, driving the trade gap in that month to a multi-month low.

According to the data, the US goods and services trade deficit narrowed sharply by nearly 24% from July levels to 59.6 billion US dollars in August, far better than the market's previous forecast of 60.4 billion US dollars. Affected by the government shutdown, the report, which was originally scheduled to be released on October 7, was postponed until this week; as for the September trade data originally scheduled to be released on November 4, the new release date is still undecided.

Looking at the breakdown, total imports fell 5.1% in August, the biggest decline in four months, while exports increased slightly. Since these figures are not adjusted for inflation, they mainly reflect changes in trade flows.

Previously, in July, the trade deficit widened markedly due to companies speeding up stocking up on goods and importing large quantities of goods before the “equal tariffs” announced in April but then delayed implementation officially came into effect. As many countries scrambled to reach an agreement with the US, most of the tariffs were finally implemented in August, triggering sharp fluctuations in trade data for that month.

This sharp monthly fluctuation in trade is also transmitted to indicators of US economic activity, such as GDP. The Atlanta Federal Reserve's GDPNow model recently showed that net exports contributed 0.57 percent of GDP in the third quarter.

The Ministry of Commerce pointed out that the main reason for the decline in imports in August was a sharp drop in non-monetary gold imports, which is directly related to the sharp increase in US tariffs on Swiss gold products. Switzerland is one of the world's largest exporters of gold. Tariff adjustments have led to a significant narrowing of the US trade deficit with Switzerland. Currently, the two countries have reached an agreement to reduce the import tax on gold.

In addition, US imports of capital goods also declined during the month, including products such as computer accessories and communication equipment.

After adjusting for inflation, the US merchandise trade deficit narrowed to US$83.7 billion in August, the smallest since the end of 2023. The report also shows that the US merchandise trade deficit with China widened to the highest level since April in August; the trade deficit with Mexico narrowed slightly, while the deficit with Canada narrowed markedly.