The United States imported a record $426.6 billion in goods and services in September, yet its trade deficit narrowed slightly to $105.0 billion. Exports rose faster than imports in the November 4 release from the Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The goods deficit widened on a Census basis but narrowed under the balance-of-payments accounting used for the headline. A gold adjustment explains the different directions.
Exports grew faster than imports
Exports rose 1.9% to $321.5 billion in September, while imports rose 1.2%. The combined deficit fell 0.7% from August's revised $105.7 billion.
The goods deficit was $135.9 billion. A $30.9 billion services surplus offset part of it, producing the combined $105.0 billion shortfall.
These are seasonally adjusted dollar values, without adjustment for price changes. The rounded figures do not always subtract precisely.
Year to date, the combined deficit was 12.2% lower than in the same period of 2025. The three-month average deficit ending in September was $101.2 billion, up $11.3 billion from the previous reading.
Why two goods measures moved differently
Census goods statistics start with information collected by Customs and Border Protection about goods moving between the United States and other countries. BEA then makes adjustments to align those statistics with balance-of-payments concepts.
Those adjustments expand coverage, remove duplication and value transactions at market prices. As BEA's gold accounting explanation describes, transactions involving gold can be recorded even when the metal does not cross the customs border.
One example is gold purchased by a private US entity from a foreign official agency out of reserves held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. BEA records that purchase as an import. The physical border crossing captured by Customs is a different test.
September's report attributes the divergence between the two nominal goods balances to an adjustment for nonmonetary gold imports. The measures below therefore answer different questions.
| September measure | Change from August |
|---|---|
| Nominal goods deficit, Census basis | Increased 2.2% |
| Real goods deficit, Census basis | Increased 3.0% |
| Nominal goods deficit, balance-of-payments basis | Decreased $0.7 billion |
The real measure removes price changes; nominal figures retain them.
Gold is treated differently again in GDP
Nonmonetary gold can be an industrial input, including in jewelry and electronics, or an investment held as a store of wealth.
BEA's national-accounts guidance says purchases of gold held for investment do not belong in consumption, business investment or government spending. Most nonmonetary gold transactions recorded in its international accounts are for investment purposes.
For the national accounts, BEA removes those gold exports and imports and replaces them with an adjustment based on domestic production minus industrial use. That is why the monthly trade release cannot be transferred mechanically into a GDP calculation. The accounting treatment changes with the purpose of the statistic.
What subtracting imports from GDP means
GDP measures production inside the United States. Our report on third-quarter growth and September prices covers the wider economy. Imported goods can already be included in consumption, investment or government spending, so the calculation removes their value to avoid counting foreign production as domestic output.
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis explains that this subtraction is an accounting step. Buying an imported product does not, by itself, reduce domestic production dollar for dollar. The bank's example is an imported car: its value first enters consumption spending and is then removed as an import.
The Federal Reserve's video explanation of exports, imports and GDP also covers products assembled domestically with imported parts. The domestic and imported portions require separate treatment.
October's trade figures are scheduled for release on December 8.
