The U.S. trade deficit -- the value by which the cost of a country's imports is worth more than its exports -- shrank to $59.6 billion in August, the narrowest gap since October 2023 ($58.3 billion), the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Wednesday.

That marks a 24% reduction from July ($78.2 billion) as imports declined by 5.1%, the most in four months, and exports rose by just 0.1%, according to the agency.

Wall Street expected the trade gap to narrow to $60.3 billion, according to FactSet.

Trump announced wide-reaching tariffs on U.S. trade partners in April before expanding on the levies in August, raising the effective tariff rate imposed by the U.S. to 18%, according to the Budget Lab at Yale, while also resulting in a widening of the trade deficit as imports increased.