U.S. Trade Balance: Goods and Services

## What this measures

U.S. exports of goods and services minus imports of goods and services in a month, in billions of dollars, seasonally adjusted. This is the headline U.S. trade deficit.

## Why it matters

Net exports are a component of GDP, so a wider deficit subtracts from measured growth. The figure is also the one most often cited in trade policy debates.

## How to read it

Below zero is a deficit. It is the goods balance plus the services balance; the services surplus makes the total smaller than the goods deficit alone.

## What it does not say

A deficit is not a loss: it is matched by money flowing into U.S. assets. It does not say which partners or products drive the change.

## Source

U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services (FT-900), series BOPGSTB. Palanor pulls it from the FRED API (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) nightly. Works of the U.S. government are in the public domain.