US monthly budget deficit falls as Trump tariffs boost customs receipts

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. government posted a $316 billion budget deficit for May, down 9%, or $31 billion, from a year earlier, as customs receipts nearly quadrupled to a record $23 billion due to President Donald Trump’s steep new import tariffs, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

Gross customs receipts jumped last month from $6 billion in May 2024 as Trump’s tariffs on goods from nearly all trading partners began showing up in significant volumes in port-of-entry collections, a Treasury official said. Fiscal year-to-date customs receipts were up nearly 60% to $86 billion.

The customs duties helped boost receipts for May to $371 billion, which were up 15%, or $48 billion from May 2024. Outlays last month reached $687 billion, or $16 billion.

Both the May 2025 and May 2024 budget results had calendar adjustments, largely for June benefits that were paid in May because the month of June in both years started on weekends. After adjusting for these shifts, the deficit in May would have been $219 billion, a 17% decline from the adjusted May 2024 deficit of $263 billion. 

Interest on the public debt, which has been steadily growing as one of the government’s largest expense items, fell by $11 billion, or 10%, in May from a year earlier to $92 billion, after a decline of $1 billion in April.

For the first eight months of the 2025 fiscal year, the deficit reached $1.365 trillion, up $162 billion, or 14%, from the $1.202 trillion in the year-ago period. Fiscal year-to-date receipts reached $3.482 trillion, a record high for the period and up 6%, or $194 billion, from the same period a year earlier. Year-to-date outlays were also a record high at $4.846 trillion, up $356 billion, or 8%, from the year-ago period.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao)