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The US trade deficit shrank by a near-record 55% in April, data from the Commerce Department shows.
But there are a couple of huge “buts” there.
The trade deficit grew to a record monthly high of $138.3 billion back in March, as companies rushed to import goods ahead of the Trump administration’s tariffs. Seen in that light, April’s results appear more like a correction of a spending spree rather than a lasting change.
In fact, this April’s trade deficit is 65.7% higher than it was back in April 2024. And so far, 2025’s trade deficit is wider than 2024’s. During January to April last year, the trade deficit was $273 billion. During that same period this year? It was $452 billion.
Pharma, auto, and industrial pullbacks: Imports of goods and services shrank by 16% in April. US companies slashed their spending on imported consumer goods by nearly a third, to $69.9 billion. In particular, they imported far fewer pharmaceutical preparations, or finished drugs, which the Commerce Department classifies as consumer goods. Imports of those drugs were down by $26 billion.
Spending on imported industrial supplies and materials fell $23.3 billion, while imports of autos and auto parts dropped by $8.3 billion.
US ”exports rose 3% in April to a record $289.4 billion” according to the Journal. That may be because other countries were stocking up on US goods to get ahead of potential “retaliatory measures,” per the Wall Street Journal.
Economists stressed how unusual this kind of trade volatility is. Such seesawing in trade typically only occurs as the result of “external shocks” such as “the pandemic and the global financial crisis,” Douglas Irwin, an economics professor at Dartmouth College, told the Journal.