July Trade Deficit Soars to Largest in 4 Months as Imports Surge Ahead of Tariffs

01:35 PM EDT, 09/04/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The US trade deficit widened to the largest in four months in July as imports soared, while the goods trade gap with China and Canada grew, government data showed Thursday.

The goods and services deficit increased by about 33% sequentially to $78.31 billion in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, the biggest jump in six months, the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis said. The consensus was for a deficit of $77.9 billion in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

Imports rose 5.9% month on month to $358.78 billion in July, the fastest pace in six months, while exports rose 0.3% to $280.46 billion, government data showed.

The deficit widened as firms rushed to import goods ahead of new tariffs, Stifel said in a note to clients.

President Donald Trump's sweeping import duties went into effect in August.

The goods trade deficit with China ballooned to $14.7 billion in July from the previous month's $9.38 billion. The goods trade gap widened to $5.44 billion from $991 million with Canada, and to $16.65 billion from $16.29 billion with Mexico, the official data showed.

The goods trade gap with the European Union narrowed to $8.63 billion from $9.52 billion in June.

Trump reportedly filed an appeal with the Supreme Court on Wednesday to uphold his reciprocal tariffs, after the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled last week that most of them were illegal.

In a statement Wednesday, the White House said tariff revenue topped $31 billion in August, bringing the total so far this year to $158 billion.

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