The US Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported today that the international trade deficit in goods and services in July 2024 rose to $78.8 billion. This deficit was a significant increase of $5.8 billion from the revised figure for June of $73.0 billion.
US International Trade – July 2024: In July 2024, US exports rose to $266.6 billion, up $1.3 billion from June exports. At the same time, imports were $345.4 billion, up $7.1 billion from June imports. These increases in the goods and services deficit pushed the overall deficit to $78.8 billion. The US Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis attributed the increase to a $5.6 billion increase in the goods deficit to $103.1 billion and a $0.2 billion decrease in the services surplus to $24.3 billion. On a broader level, the goods and services deficit has increased by $36.2 billion so far, up 7.7% from the same period in 2023. In contrast, exports increased by $65.9 billion, or 3.7%.
Deficit and International Trade Averages for Three Months Through July 2024: The goods and services deficit averages increased by $1.3 billion to $75.7 billion during the three months ending in July. Meanwhile, average exports increased by $1.4 billion to $264.2 billion in July. As for imports, they increased by $2.7 billion to average $339.9 billion in July. Compared to the same period last year, the average deficit in goods and services increased by $10.5 billion as of July 2023. In contrast, average exports increased by $12.3 billion, while average imports increased by $22.8 billion as of July 2023.
Goods and Services Exports Data July 2024
In July 2024, goods exports increased by $0.7 billion, reaching $175.1 billion. However, goods exports on a population basis decreased by $0.1 billion. In detail, exports of vehicles, parts and engines decreased by $1.7 billion, while sales of passenger cars decreased by $1.3 billion. On the other hand, exports of consumer goods decreased by $0.8 billion, and diamond prices decreased by $0.7 billion. In contrast, exports of capital goods increased by $1.8 billion, while the value of semiconductors increased by $1.7 billion. Net balance of payments adjustments also increased by $0.8 billion.
Service exports increased by $0.6 billion to $91.5 billion in July. Within this increase, government exports of goods and services increased by $0.3 billion, while financial services increased by $0.2 billion.
Details of Imports of Goods and Services in July 2024:In July 2024, imports of goods increased by $6.4 billion, bringing the total to $278.2 billion. Within this increase, imports of goods on a population basis increased by $6.3 billion.
In detail, imports of capital goods increased by $3.3 billion, while sales of computer peripherals increased by $2.4 billion. Imports of industrial supplies and materials increased by $2.8 billion, and the value of non-monetary gold increased by $1.1 billion. In addition, the value of finished metal forms increased by $0.9 billion, and the net balance of payments adjustments increased by $0.1 billion. As for service imports, they increased by $0.8 billion to $67.2 billion in July. Among this increase, intellectual property fees rose by $0.5 billion, transportation rose by $0.3 billion, while travel imports decreased by $0.3 billion.
Analysis of goods and services data for July 2024
Real Goods Deficit: In July 2024, the real goods deficit increased by $6.3 billion, or 6.9%, to $97.6 billion. This compares with a 6.6% increase in the nominal deficit.
Real Exports and Imports: Real exports of goods decreased by $1.7 billion, or 1.2%, to $144.4 billion, while nominal exports recorded a slight decrease of less than 0.1%. In contrast, real imports of goods increased by $4.6 billion, or 1.9%, to $242.0 billion, compared with a 2.3% increase in nominal imports.
June Export Revision: Exports of goods increased by $0.1 billion. Exports of services decreased by $0.8 billion.
June Import Revision: Imports of goods increased by $0.3 billion. Imports of services decreased by $1.0 billion.
Analysis of changes
China: The deficit widened by $4.9 billion to $27.2 billion. Exports fell by $1 billion to $11.5 billion, while imports increased by $3.9 billion to $38.7 billion.
Canada: The deficit widened by $3.0 billion to $7.6 billion. Exports fell by $1.4 billion to $27.3 billion, while imports increased by $1.7 billion to $35.0 billion.
Vietnam: The deficit narrowed by $1.4 billion to $9.5 billion. Exports rose by $1.0 billion to $2.1 billion, while imports fell by $0.3 billion to $11.6 billion.
Goods and services by selected countries and regions: Quarterly – on a balance of payments basis:Statistics on trade in goods and services by country and region are available only quarterly, with a one-month lag. With this release, figures for the second quarter are now available.
Second-quarter figures show multi-billion dollar surpluses with the Netherlands ($19.9), South and Central America ($17.4), Australia ($8.8), Brazil ($7.3), Hong Kong ($5), the United Kingdom ($3.8), Saudi Arabia ($2.2),
