BREAKING: September’s trade deficit stuns experts by coming in far lower than expected.
EXPECTATION: -$59 BILLION
REALITY: -$52 BILLION"This would be the lightest going back to, wow we're really going back. All the way back to June of 2020.”
pic.twitter.com/aEmMj0LXqm— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 11, 2025
The US trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in September to the smallest since 2020, delayed government data showed Thursday, with imports rising just slightly as President Donald Trump’s new tariffs set in.
The overall trade deficit fell 10.9 percent to $52.8 billion, the lowest since mid-2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
This came as exports rose 3.0 percent to $289.3 billion, while imports edged up 0.6 percent to $342.1 billion, the Commerce Department said.
The trade figures are the latest in a series of official economic reports postponed due to a record-long government shutdown between October and mid-November.