The release of the official U.S. trade balance numbers Thursday showed a wider deficit in August, unsurprisingly driven by the disparity with the country's biggest trade partner, China.
The Commmerce Department said the trade gap expanded to $46.3 billion in August, up 8.7% from July and 49% from a year ago. Dissecting the numbers shows the deficit in goods increased $3.9 billion to $59 billion, while the surplus on the services side edged up $100 million, to $12.6 billion. The trade deficit with China totaled $28 billion, up from July's $25.9 billion.
