The U.S. government recorded a $316 billion budget deficit in May, marking a 9% decline—$31 billion less—than the same month a year earlier, the Treasury Department reported Wednesday. The drop came as customs receipts soared to a record $23 billion, nearly quadrupling from a year ago, driven by President Donald Trump’s sweeping new import tariffs.
Gross customs receipts surged from $6 billion in May 2024, as the impact of Trump’s tariffs on imports from nearly all major trading partners began to show up in port-of-entry collections, according to a Treasury official. For the fiscal year to date, customs revenues rose nearly 60% to $86 billion.
These duties helped lift total May receipts to $371 billion, a 15% increase—$48 billion more—than in May 2024. Federal outlays for the month reached $687 billion, up $16 billion from the same period last year.
Both the May 2025 and May 2024 budget results were influenced by calendar adjustments, with June benefits paid early in May because the month of June began on a weekend in both years. After adjusting for the timing shift, the May deficit would have been $219 billion—down 17% from an adjusted May 2024 deficit of $263 billion.
Interest payments on the public debt, which have become one of the government’s largest expenditures, declined by $11 billion, or 10%, to $92 billion in May, following a $1 billion decrease in April.
Over the first eight months of fiscal year 2025, the deficit climbed to $1.365 trillion—an increase of $162 billion, or 14%, compared to $1.202 trillion during the same period in the previous year. Fiscal year-to-date revenues hit a record $3.482 trillion, up 6% or $194 billion, from a year earlier. Year-to-date outlays also set a new record at $4.846 trillion, up 8% or $356 billion.
