US trade deficit widened 13.7% to $105.6 billion in August

The US trade deficit grew 13.7% between July and August to $105.6 billion, the widest gap since President Donald Trump began imposing his second-term tariffs, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data reported by Fortune. Imports rose 4.3% to $420.8 billion while exports increased 2.2% to $205.7 billion. The last larger monthly deficit was $140 billion in March 2025.

Trump had said the import taxes announced in April 2025 would narrow the deficit, which he described as a national emergency. Economists interviewed by Fortune attributed much of the widening to demand for overseas hardware tied to the artificial intelligence buildout. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis found AI demand alone added $200 billion to the deficit in April.

Tarek Hassan, an economics professor at Boston University, said the frequent changes in tariff rates have discouraged companies from reworking supply chains, leaving them reliant on imports and adjusting prices instead. Tariffs on Chinese goods peaked at 145% after the April 2025 announcement and have since fallen to roughly 30% following a Supreme Court ruling against levies imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and trade agreements with China.

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told Fortune that record capital goods imports were evidence of a "manufacturing renaissance" driven by Trump's policies. Donald Boudreaux, an economics professor at George Mason University, said importers are still buying tariffed inputs because they expect stronger future demand.

This story was first reported by Fortune.