Catenaa, Tuesday, May 06, 2025- The US trade deficit in the first quarter of 2025 increased by over 92% to $438 billion as imports surged by 23% in the quarter ahead of the tariffs by President Trump.
Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) said on Tuesday that the goods and services deficit increased $189.6 billion, or 92.6%, in Q1, from the same period in 2024, as exports increased $41.1 billion, or 5.2%, and imports increased $230.7 billion or 23.3%
The trade gap jumped 14.0% to a record $140.5 billion in March from a revised $123.2 billion in February.
President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, including raising duties on Chinese imports to a staggering 145%, fueled a rush by businesses to bring in merchandise to avoid higher costs.
While reciprocal tariffs with most of the United States’ trade partners were suspended for 90 days, duties on Chinese goods came into effect in early April, triggering a trade war with Beijing.
Imports vaulted 4.4% to an all-time high of $419.0 billion in March, goods imports soared 5.4% to a record $346.8 billion. Exports climbed 0.2% to $278.5 billion, also a record high. Exports of goods increased 0.7% to $183.2 billion.
Some of the top countries which the US recorded with trade deficits in March were recorded, with European Union ($48.3 billion), Ireland ($29.3 billion), China ($24.8 billion), Mexico ($16.8 billion), Switzerland ($14.7 billion) and Vietnam ($14.1 billion).
The US last week reported that the trade deficit cut a record 4.83pp from GDP last quarter, resulting in the economy contracting at a 0.3% annualized rate, the first decline since the first quarter of 2022.
US stock market opened down on Tuesday as the trade numbers worried the investors and with renewed fears of tariffs.
