Updated: 12-Mar-26 09:32 ET

January Trade Balance

Updated: 12-Mar-26 09:32 ET

Highlights

• The trade deficit narrowed to $54.5 billion in January (Briefing.com consensus -$67.9 billion) from a revised $72.9 billion deficit (from -$70.3 billion) in December.
• The narrower gap was the result of exports being $15.8 billion more than December exports and imports being $2.6 billion less than December imports.

Key Factors

• Exports of industrial supplies materials increased $9.4 billion, with nonmonetary gold increasing $4.7 billion.
• Exports of capital goods increased $5.4 billion.
• Imports of industrial supplies and materials decreased $1.4 billion.
• Imports of capital goods increased $3.4 billion.
• The real goods deficit decreased $14.0 to $83.9 billion.

Big Picture

• The key takeaway from the report is that the monthly trade deficit returned to the $50 billion range, which has been a familiar zone since last year's implementation of tariffs.

Category	JAN	DEC	NOV	OCT	SEP
Trade Deficit	-$54.5B	-$72.9B	-$56.0B	-$31.1B	-$49.2B
Exports	$302.1B	$286.3B	$290.9B	$301.2B	$293.8B
Imports	$356.6B	$359.2B	$346.9B	$332.3B	$343.0B