How Services Trade Is Quietly Reshaping the US Deficit

Episode 14 of The Trade Deficit Podcast with Fexingo shifts focus from goods to services. Hosts Lucas and Luna explore how America's surplus in services like software licensing, streaming royalties, and consulting offsets—barely—the massive goods deficit. With the trade balance hitting -$60 billion in March 2026, they dig into whether services trade is growing fast enough to matter. Lucas explains why the U.S. services surplus has doubled over the past decade to roughly $300 billion, yet still covers only one-third of the goods gap. They discuss the role of digital platforms, from Netflix royalties to cloud computing exports, and ask whether the data overstates the surplus by ignoring how multinationals shift profits. The episode also touches on the latest consumer sentiment record low and what that means for import demand. #TradeDeficit #ServicesTrade #USExports #Imports #BalanceOfPayments #DigitalEconomy #SoftwareLicensing #StreamingRoyalties #CloudComputing #IntellectualProperty #CurrentAccount #ConsumerSentiment #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #TradeFinance #GlobalTrade #2026 Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo