U.S. Trade Deficit Widens to $60.3 Billion in March 2026 as Imports Climb

The U.S. goods and services deficit widened to $60.3 billion in March, up $2.5 billion from a revised $57.8 billion in February. Both sides of the ledger expanded — exports rose to $320.9 billion and imports to $381.2 billion — but imports advanced by $8.7 billion against a $6.2 billion gain in exports, and that gap is the entire monthly story. A deficit that widens while gross flows grow on both sides carries a different signal than one driven by retreating trade: it points to firm domestic absorption rather than a stalling external sector.

Goods and services pulled in opposite directions

The headline masks a divergence. The goods deficit increased $4.1 billion to $88.7 billion, while the services surplus increased $1.6 billion to $28.4 billion — the services side offsetting roughly a third of the deterioration in goods.

The composition of that services improvement matters more than its size. The surplus widened because imports fell, not because exports grew: services exports slipped $0.3 billion to $107.4 billion, while services imports dropped $1.9 billion to $79.0 billion — the largest monthly decrease since April 2020. The decline was broad across the major categories:

• Charges for the use of intellectual property: down $1.0 billion
• Transport: down $0.4 billion
• Travel: down $0.4 billion

A services surplus that improves on falling imports is a weaker result than the headline number suggests. Transport and travel are demand-sensitive categories, and a simultaneous pullback in both is more consistent with softening cross-border activity than with a competitive gain.

Gross flows expanded on both sides

Goods exports increased $6.5 billion to $213.5 billion, with the Census-basis measure up $6.2 billion. Energy dominated the gain:

• Industrial supplies and materials: up $5.0 billion
• Crude oil: up $2.8 billion
• Other petroleum products: up $1.7 billion
• Fuel oil: up $1.6 billion

Goods imports increased $10.6 billion to $302.2 billion, with the Census-basis measure up $10.2 billion. The gain was wider in its sources than the export side:

• Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines: up $3.6 billion, of which passenger cars accounted for $2.8 billion
• Consumer goods: up $2.4 billion
• Capital goods: up $2.1 billion
• Computer accessories: up $2.0 billion
• Industrial supplies and materials: up $2.1 billion
• Computers: down $2.3 billion

The concentration of export growth in petroleum and related supplies is worth separating from the import picture. Energy export values move with price as much as volume, so a gain sourced there is a thinner read on foreign demand for U.S. output than an equivalent gain in capital or consumer goods. The import gain, spread across autos, consumer goods, and capital equipment, reads more directly as domestic demand.

Price effects widened the real gap faster than the nominal

Adjusting for prices sharpens the deterioration. The real goods deficit increased $5.7 billion, or 6.7 percent, to $90.8 billion, against a 4.7 percent increase in the nominal deficit. The divergence runs through both flows: real exports of goods rose 1.2 percent to $163.0 billion against a 3.0 percent nominal gain, while real imports rose 3.1 percent to $253.8 billion against a 3.5 percent nominal gain.

In volume terms, in other words, export growth was roughly a third of what the nominal figure implies, while import volumes held up closer to their nominal pace. Price contributed more to the export gain than to the import gain — which is what one would expect when petroleum leads the export side.

Trading partners: Europe drove the monthly swing

The bilateral detail concentrates the March move in a small number of relationships.

• European Union: the deficit increased $4.1 billion to $9.2 billion, as exports fell $0.3 billion to $37.2 billion and imports rose $3.8 billion to $46.4 billion
• Switzerland: the surplus decreased $3.5 billion to $4.3 billion
• South Korea: the deficit decreased $2.9 billion to $4.8 billion

The EU swing alone matches the entire increase in the goods deficit. By level, bilateral goods deficits ran to $20.6 billion with Taiwan, $19.2 billion with Vietnam, $16.4 billion with Mexico, and $14.0 billion with China.

The trend beneath the month

A single month overstates the turn. On a three-month moving average, the goods and services deficit decreased $4.2 billion to $57.6 billion for the three months ending in March, with average exports up $11.5 billion to $312.6 billion and average imports up $7.3 billion to $370.2 billion. Against the same three months of 2025, the average deficit is $70.4 billion smaller, average exports are $33.4 billion higher, and average imports are $37.0 billion lower.

The year-to-date comparison is starker still: the deficit has decreased $211.2 billion, or 55.0 percent, from the same period in 2025, with exports up $100.2 billion (12.0 percent) and imports down $111.0 billion (9.1 percent). Measured against March 2025 alone, the monthly deficit is 55.6 percent smaller.

So the March widening sits inside a trailing trend that is still moving hard in the other direction. Reconciling the two is the analytical question this print poses: whether March marks the point at which import compression stopped doing the work, or a single month of energy-led export strength and auto-led import strength that the average absorbs.

Revisions were minor and do not change the read. February exports of goods were revised up $0.1 billion and services exports down $0.2 billion, while February imports of goods were revised up $0.1 billion and services imports up $0.2 billion.

What the next print has to settle

Net exports enter GDP directly, and a monthly trade balance of this size moves quarter-tracking estimates on its own. The March widening subtracts from the second-quarter arithmetic at the margin, but the three-month average — still falling — is the series that determines the quarterly contribution.

The next release, on June 9, 2026, covers April. The figure to watch is goods imports: March's $302.2 billion was driven by autos, consumer goods, and capital equipment together, and a second consecutive month at that level would confirm that domestic demand, not energy pricing, now sets the direction of the balance. If instead goods imports retrace while petroleum-led exports hold, the three-month average keeps narrowing and March reads as noise inside a still-compressing deficit.