(Photo: Xinhua)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- The overall US trade deficit widened to 54.9 billion US dollars in August amid protracted trade tensions, US government figures showed on Friday.

That was up from the revised 54 billion dollars in July and higher than economists' expectation for 54.4 billion dollars, according to the US Commerce Department.

US exports in August increased to 207.9 billion dollars, 0.5 billion dollars more than that in July, while imports rose to 262.8 billion dollars, up 1.3 billion dollars from the previous month, the department said.

While the Trump administration has tried to shrink the trade gap by imposing additional tariffs on various imports, the US trade deficit widened to 428.7 billion dollars in the first eight months of this year, up 28.3 billion dollars, or 7.1 percent, from the same period in 2018.

For the United Stats, economists at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have said that its persistent deficit with trading partners resulted from its macroeconomic policy, urging it to adopt fiscal consolidation and implement structural policies to address external imbalances, instead of resorting to distorted trade actions.