The U.S. international trade deficit widened to $72.83 billion in August from $72.46 billion in July, advance data from the Census Bureau showed.
The consensus estimate of economists polled by Econoday was for a deficit of $73.4 billion.
On a monthly basis, seasonally adjusted exports ticked up 0.1% to $137.79 billion and imports rose 0.3% to $210.61 billion.
On an annual basis, export figures reflected a 0.3% decline, while imports recorded a 1.3% drop.
