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US goods imports fell by the most on record in April, plunging by nearly a fifth as President Donald Trump’s tariffs prompted companies to slam the brakes on shipments to the world’s biggest economy.
Imports of goods for April totalled $276.1bn, down 19.8 per cent from March, according to the Census Bureau’s advance economic indicators report, released on Friday.
The drop is the largest in the bureau’s data dating back to 1992 and marks a stark turnaround from March, when companies rushed to buy foreign goods before Trump’s April 2 “liberation day” tariffs announcement.
The import data provides the clearest picture yet of the ruptures to international trade caused by the president’s levies, which have roiled markets and upended US commercial relations with the world.
Americans have grown increasingly cautious in their spending habits amid the turmoil. Consumer spending growth slowed from a month-over-month pace of 0.7 per cent in March to 0.2 per cent in April, according to separate data released on Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The wild fluctuations in imports have distorted quarterly US economic readings. The import dash ahead of Trump’s “liberation day” deadline caused US GDP to shrink by an annualised 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of the year, the first contraction since 2022.
But the plunge in April imports suggests GDP will receive a boost from trade in the second quarter.
The Atlanta Federal Reserve on Friday increased its running forecast for second-quarter GDP growth from an annualised rate of 2.2 per cent to 3.8 per cent, which would mark the biggest jump since 2023.
JPMorgan raised its second-quarter growth rate forecast from 2 per cent to 4 per cent, but cautioned that “swings in trade volumes may be making it difficult to measure underlying growth”. It said the average growth rate for the first half of the year would give a more complete picture, predicting growth of about 2 per cent over the six-month period.
Imports of consumer goods were hit particularly hard, according to the Census Bureau data, sliding 32 per cent to $69.6bn in April on a seasonally adjusted basis. Industrial supply shipments fell 31 per cent to $51.8bn, while automotive imports were down 19 per cent at $33.6bn.
US importers must now contend with a broad series of levies on foreign goods, including steep tariffs on Chinese products and a universal 10 per cent levy.
The status of the tariffs has fluctuated wildly in recent months, triggering widespread confusion among companies and volatility in markets.
The US struck a deal with China two weeks ago to temporarily reduce tariffs between the two countries, but tensions between them appeared to be rising again on Friday as Trump said in a Truth Social post that Beijing had “TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US”.
While the president paused the steeper so-called reciprocal tariffs on most countries on April 9, the current set of levies still brings the overall level to multi-decade highs.
A US trade court ruled on Wednesday that Trump’s “liberation day” tariff scheme was illegal, but an appeals court the following day allowed them to remain in effect until an objection from the government is reviewed.
