The U.S. trade deficit widened in December, recording one of the largest deficits since 1960 for the entire year

Despite the Trump administration's efforts to reduce the massive trade deficit in the United States, the trade imbalance for the year showed little significant change, with the U.S. trade deficit widening in December, marking the end of the year.

The U.S. Department of Commerce reported on Thursday that after a tumultuous year in global markets, the total trade deficit in goods and services for December was $70.3 billion, an increase of $17.3 billion from November and significantly higher than the media's previous expectation of $55.5 billion.

For the entire year, the U.S. trade deficit was $901.5 billion, a slight decrease of 0.2% from 2024, or a reduction of $2.1 billion. This total is also slightly lower than the record deficit of $923.7 billion in 2022.

The report was released as President Trump implemented a series of aggressive tariff policies over the past year aimed at "balancing" the global trade environment. In April of last year, Trump announced a uniform 10% tariff on all imported goods and imposed what he called "reciprocal tariffs" on specific countries with trade surpluses with the U.S. However, throughout the year, Trump softened many of his positions and is still negotiating with major trading partners.

To prepare for the tariffs before they took effect, businesses increased imports significantly in the first three months of the year. This trend then weakened, with the trade deficit in October falling to the lowest monthly level since 2009.

The U.S. had the largest trade deficit in goods with the European Union, amounting to $218.8 billion.

For the full year of 2025, U.S. exports totaled $3.43 trillion, an increase of $199.8 billion from 2024; imports totaled $4.33 trillion, an increase of $197.8 billion year-on-year