U.S. Trade Deficit Narrows And Canadian Trade Surplus Expands

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Meanwhile, here are the major economic headlines from the last week:

• The U.S. goods and services deficit was $55.9 billion in April 2026, down $700 million from one month earlier. The decline reflected a drop in the goods deficit of $2.4 billion to $83.7 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of $1.7 billion to $27.8 billion. April exports were $327.1 billion, $8.3 billion more than March exports while imports that month totaled $383 billion, up $7.6 billion from March. The overall trade deficit was down 49.1 percent between April 2025 and April 2026. Year-over-year, exports increased $128.2 billion, or 11.3 percent, while imports fell $85.3 billion, or 5.5 percent.
• In April, Canada’s merchandise exports increased 1.6 percent while imports edged up 0.3 percent. As a result, the country’s merchandise trade surplus with the world widened from $1.8 billion in March to $2.7 billion in April. April was the second consecutive monthly trade surplus, and the largest since January 2025. Read Statistics Canada’s full report at this link.
• U.S. wholesale sales rose two percent from March 2026 to April 2026 and 13.1 percent from April 2025 to April 2026. Inventories were up 0.6 percent from March to April and 3.6 percent year-over-year, meanwhile, and the April inventories-to-sales ratio was 1.19, down from 1.30 in April 2025.
• In other economic news: Real U.S. average hourly earnings increased 0.1 percent from April 2026 to May 2026; the S. producer price index (PPI) rose 1.1 percent from April to May and 6.5 percent from May 2025 to May 2026; the U.S. consumer price index (CPI) increased 0.5 percent from April to May and 4.6 percent year-over-year; and the number of existing homes sold in the United States increased by 3.2 percent from April 2026 to May 2026 and by 3.2 percent from May 2025 to April 2025 as well.