Background

The monthly U.S. trade deficit in goods and services jumped 32.6 percent from November to December, as imports rose and exports remained sluggish.

Imports of $357.6 billion in December were up 3.6 percent from November. Imports of goods rose 3.8 percent to $280.2 billion, with increases of $3.4 billion for computer accessories, $1.8 billion for non-monetary gold, $1.5 billion for copper, and $1.3 billion for telecommunications equipment along with a $4.6 billion decrease for pharmaceutical preparations. Services imports rose 2.7 percent to $77.4 billion, as transport services imports increased by $1.5 billion.

Exports fell 1.7 percent to $287.3 billion in December. Exports of goods declined 2.9 percent to $180.8 billion, with a $7.1 billion decrease for non-monetary gold and increases of $1.3 billion for pharmaceutical preparations and $0.9 billion for semiconductors. Services exports, meanwhile, edged up 0.4 percent to an all-time high of $106.5 billion.

The monthly U.S. trade deficit increased from $53.0 billion in November to $70.3 billion in December. The deficit in goods trade rose 18.8 percent to $99.3 billion while the services trade surplus fell 5.2 percent to $29.0 billion.

For all of 2025 the U.S. trade deficit inched down by 0.2 percent to $901.5 billion. Imports rose 4.8 percent to $4.33 trillion and exports gained 6.2 percent to $3.43 trillion. The goods deficit was up 2.1 percent while the services surplus was up 8.9 percent.

For the month of December 2025, trade deficits and surpluses with major trading partners were as follows.

Country/region

Deficit

% Change

Surplus

% Change

Taiwan

$19.9 billion

+32.8

 

 

Vietnam

$16.9 billion

+9.5

 

 

Mexico

$14.2 billion

-20.7

   

European Union

$13.8 billion

-1.6

 

 

China

$12.7 billion

-8.8

   

Thailand

$8.3 billion

+10.7

   

Germany

$8.1 billion

+21.3

   

Canada

$6.3 billion

+205.6

 

 

South Korea

$5.9 billion

+81.0

   

Japan

$5.8 billion

+22.5

   

India

$4.8 billion

+38.6

   

Malaysia

$3.3 billion

+13.1

 

 

Italy

$3.0 billion

-4.6

   

France

$2.4 billion

-22.8

   

Ireland

$2.0 billion

-32.7

   

Indonesia

$1.9 billion

-1.8

   

Netherlands

   

$5.6 billion

-0.3

South/Central America

   

$4.2 billion

-37.5

United Kingdom

   

$4.2 billion

-17.0

Hong Kong

   

$2.4 billion

+11.2

Brazil

   

$1.8 billion

-13.7

Belgium

 

 

$1.0 billion

-11.8

Singapore

   

$0.9 billion

shift from $0.9 billion deficit

 

 

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