vs Last Month
−$4.2B
Deficit widened modestly.
Exports − Imports · Monthly
U.S. Trade Balance
−$72.5B
-4.2Bvs. last month (deficit widened)
Past 12 months−$82B to −$64B
vs Last Year+$3.5B
5-Yr Avg−$82.5B
2022 Worst−$103.8B
Trade deficit widened to −$72.5B in March, up $4.2B from February. Still well below the 5-year average of −$82.5B — the gap has been narrowing since the 2022 peak.
Historical trend
Monthly · negative = deficit.
Source: FRED · BOPGSTB
The long view: since 1975
The last surplus was 1975. Every month since has been a deficit.
Best +$4.6B · June 1975
Worst −$103.8B · March 2022
Today −$72.5B
How today stacks up
vs Last Year
+$3.5B
Net improvement YoY.
5-Year Average
−$82.5B
Today is +$10B above (i.e., better than) average.
From 2022 worst
+$31B
Down from the March 2022 record of −$103.8B.
Use this number
Tools for international finance.
About the U.S. Trade Balance
The Trade Balance is U.S. exports minus imports, measured monthly by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. A positive number means trade surplus (we sell more abroad than we buy); a negative number means trade deficit. The U.S. has run a persistent trade deficit since 1976 — today's −$72.5B means we imported $72.5B more than we exported in the most recent month.
Why the deficit doesn't necessarily matter
A trade deficit means dollars flow out of the U.S. to buy foreign goods. Those dollars eventually come back as foreigners buying U.S. assets — Treasury bonds, equities, real estate. The deficit is partly a function of the U.S. having the world's reserve currency and the deepest capital markets. Many economists view the persistent deficit as balanced by capital surplus rather than as a problem. Politically, the picture is far more contentious.
Reading today's number
The deficit has narrowed from the March 2022 record at −$103.8B as the dollar moderated and global supply chains normalized. Today's −$72.5B is below the 5-year average of −$82.5B — a meaningful improvement. The trade balance is highly sensitive to the dollar's strength and to global demand for U.S. exports (especially services, where the U.S. runs a structural surplus).
Related trackers
Other live numbers that move with — or against — this one.
Frequently asked
What this number means, and what it doesn't.
Three structural reasons: (1) U.S. consumers have higher purchasing power than most countries' consumers, so we buy more imports; (2) the dollar's reserve-currency status creates persistent foreign demand for dollar-denominated assets, which keeps the dollar strong and imports cheap; (3) U.S. domestic savings rate is low — we consume rather than produce.
The U.S. runs a large goods deficit (−$100B+ monthly) but a services surplus (~+$30B monthly). Net: about −$70B. Services exports include tourism, financial services, software, and intellectual property licensing — areas where the U.S. has structural advantages.
Versus the 2022 peak, yes — from −$103.8B then to −$72.5B today. Versus 2010s averages around −$45B, it's still meaningfully wider. The story is largely about post-COVID consumer demand for goods, which moderated but didn't fully reverse.
BEA releases the International Trade report around the 5th business day of each month at 8:30 AM ET, covering data from two months back. Real-time tracking via advance goods balance (a Census-only goods estimate released a week earlier).
Methodology
Source
Pulled from FRED · BOPGSTB and cached on the EvvyTools server.
Update schedule
Refreshed automatically by our cron whenever the upstream source publishes a new value. Historical values are not revised after publication.
How we compute
Display value is the raw published number, unrounded. Comparison stats use the closest available reference date. We never edit the underlying data.