Trade gap jumps to most since March 2025 on capital goods

The U.S. merchandise-trade deficit widened in September for a third straight month amid an ongoing surge in imports of capital goods. The shortfall in goods trade grew 2.1% from the prior month to $134.9 billion, the largest since March 2025, Commerce Department data showed Oct. 28. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists was for a narrowing to $130.2 billion. The figures aren’t adjusted for inflation. The value of merchandise imports rose 2.4%, while exports advanced 2.6%. Imports of capital goods — a category that includes the computers and accessories, semiconductors and telecommunications equipment fueling the AI buildout — jumped 7.5% to a new record. The Oct. 28 figures suggest capital goods imports continued to weigh on the trade balance in September amid a rush to outfit data centers with components produced abroad. The category has been the primary driver of the sharp deterioration in the deficit over the last year as the AI investment boom has picked up in pace. The deficit in capital goods is now $54.3 billion larger versus a year ago, accounting for more than the entire widening in the overall deficit over that period. Imports of consumer goods rose 3.1% in September — the most in four months — but remained 12% lower from a year earlier. On the export side, the value of outbound shipments of consumer goods advanced 6.5%, while food, feeds and beverages shipments jumped 12.8%. Those gains were partly offset by a decline in exports of industrial supplies — a category which includes petroleum products and volatile nonmonetary gold…

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