What Is U.S. Trade Balance (Goods & Services)?

-60.3B sits in the middle of the recent historical range for Trade Balance, consistent with ongoing trend conditions rather than a clear inflection point.

Trade Balance has moved lower from -57.80B to -60.3B since the prior monthly release — a meaningful move of -2.5B. Pair this with the related indicators below before drawing strong conclusions; isolated moves on a single release often look larger than they really are.

Trade indicators describe cross-border flows of goods and services. They matter for industries with international exposure and for the value of the U.S. dollar.

The trade balance measures the difference between U.S. exports and imports of goods and services. A deficit means the U.S. imports more than it exports. The trade balance is a component of GDP and reflects the competitiveness of U.S. producers in global markets.

The trade deficit narrowed slightly to $122.7 billion from January's $130.7 billion. The historically large deficit has been inflated by front-loading of imports ahead of tariff increases. For executives in import-dependent industries, trade policy remains the dominant risk factor. Companies are accelerating supply chain diversification away from China toward Mexico, Vietnam, and India.

The Census Bureau collects export and import data from customs declarations and surveys. Goods trade data comes from actual shipment records; services trade (financial, consulting, IP) comes from surveys. Data is seasonally adjusted. The 'goods only' deficit is much larger than the combined figure because the U.S. runs a large services surplus.

ExecBolt does not estimate, model, or interpolate this value — every reading on this page is pulled directly from Bureau of Economic Analysis (series BOPGSTB). For full sourcing standards and citation guidance, see the methodology page; for plain-language background on the underlying concept, see the learn library; for live cross-checks against related series, see the indicators dashboard.