US Current-Account Deficit Widens to $246B in Q2 2026
The gap grew 15.7% from Q1, reaching 3% of GDP, as the net international investment position fell to –$22.42 trillion.
The U.S. current-account deficit expanded sharply in the second quarter of 2026, reaching $246.0 billion — a $33.4 billion increase, or 15.7 percent, from the revised first-quarter figure of $212.6 billion, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported. The widening gap reflected a deterioration in the country's international economic transactions across goods, services, income, and transfers.
As a share of the broader economy, the deficit climbed to 3.0 percent of current-dollar gross domestic product, up from 2.7 percent in the first quarter. That shift signals that the external imbalance is growing faster than overall economic output, a development economists typically monitor for signs of sustained pressure on the dollar and trade flows.
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The U.S. net international investment position — the broadest measure of what American residents own abroad versus what foreigners hold in the United States — stood at negative $22.42 trillion at the close of the second quarter. Total foreign assets held by U.S. residents reached $46.97 trillion, while U.S. liabilities to foreign holders totaled $69.39 trillion. The negative position deepened by roughly $1.15 trillion compared with the revised first-quarter reading of negative $21.27 trillion, underscoring the country's continued status as the world's largest net debtor nation.
The BEA releases international transactions data quarterly as part of its mandate to track the financial relationship between the United States and the rest of the world. The figures are subject to revision as additional source data become available.
Continue reading at U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
