WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. trade deficit in goods narrowed sharply in April as the boost from the front-running of imports ahead of tariffs faded.
The goods trade gap contracted 46.0% to $87.6 billion last month, the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said on Friday. Goods imports decreased $68.4 billion to $276.1 billion. Exports of goods increased $6.3 billion to $188.5 billion.
The US trade deficit in goods narrowed significantly to $87.6 billion in April 2025, down $74.6 billion, or 46%, from a record $162.3 billion in March, according to an advance estimate.
The sharp contraction was driven by a 19.8% drop in imports, following a 5.7% increase the previous month, as the Trump administration’s new tariffs took effect.
Import declines were broad-based, with the steepest drops seen in consumer goods (-32.3%), industrial supplies (-31.1%), and automotive vehicles (-19.1%).
At the same time, exports continued to rise, increasing 3.4% in April after a 2.3% gain in March.
Growth was led by industrial supplies (+15.5%) and other goods (+10.1%).
However, exports of automotive vehicles fell sharply (-21.6%), along with consumer goods (-7.4%).
Yes there were plenty of social media posts gasping about the lack of ships coming to US harbors . . . and today’s media is often little more than a “journalist” summarizing tweets from one side of the poltical spectrum.
Probably half the news stories out there could be rewritten as
“Here is a summary of social media postings that make my political ideas look good.”
Anyway yes. to the extent that this ground-breaking story was covered, it was covered earlier as “Impending disaster! Remember the baby formula shortage? Gasp Trump is gonna kill us all!!”
