A new report from the Commerce Department on Wednesday revealed that the U.S. trade gap contracted sharply in August, driven largely by a steep pullback in imports.
According to the agency, the trade deficit fell to $59.6 billion in August, down from July’s revised level of $78.2 billion.
Economists had anticipated a smaller improvement, forecasting a deficit of around $61.0 billion, compared with the initially reported $78.3 billion for July.
The dramatic narrowing was fueled by a 5.1% slump in imports, which dropped to $340.4 billion, while exports inched higher by 0.1% to $280.8 billion.