Exports must grow faster than imports to keep the trade deficit steady.
The U.S. trade deficit probably widened in August as imports stabilized following their biggest drop in more than a year, pointing to an economy struggling to regain momentum, economists said before a report today.
The gap grew 2.8 percent to $44 billion from $42.8 billion the prior month, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The shortfall shrank by 14 percent in July as demand for overseas goods fell by the most since February 2009, when the U.S. was in the midst of the recession.