The U.S. trade deficit widened to a record in August, reflecting a pickup in the value of imports of consumer goods and industrial supplies. The gap in trade of goods and services increased 4.2% to $73.3 billion, from a revised $70.3 billion in July (notably worse than the $70.8 billion deficit expected).

The value of goods and services imports rose 1.4% to a record $287 billion in August. Exports climbed 0.5% to $213.7 billion.

And so much for 'exporting' energy - Petroleum products saw a net deficit in August...

And the deficit with China increased once again...

Poster Comment:

America exports lots of food which narrows the trade deficit to $73 billion a month, not that that is much of a narrowing.. We have trade deficits because we have 850 bases overseas and are over populated 173 million people.

The US exported nearly $146 billion in 2020. The primary factor for this surge in exports was increased shipments of soybeans, corn, and pork to China. If we stopped exporting food, the trade deficit would be another $12 billion a month which would be $85 billion a month.