U.S. Trade Deficit Plunges as Tariffs Take Effect
The U.S. trade deficit fell dramatically in April, a new report from the Commerce Department shows.
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The gap between imports and exports dropped from $138.3 billion in March to $61.6 billion in April, the largest decline on record. The change is due to President Donald Trump’s decision to implement tariffs, with importers rushing to bring goods into the U.S. in March before tariffs took effect and demand dropping significantly in April with the activation of the import taxes. U.S. export growth also played a small role in narrowing the deficit; American exports grew three percent between March and April.
Ending the United States’ persistent trade deficit has been a major goal of the second Trump administration. “We have deficits with almost every country—not every country, but almost—and we’re going to change it,” the president said in February when rolling out a series of tariffs against China, Canada, and Mexico.
Since then, Trump has also announced a universal 10 percent baseline tariff and additional “reciprocal” tariffs on over a hundred countries, adjusted to the trade deficit of each country with the U.S. Many of those tariffs are currently suspended, pending trade negotiations, but are set to return next month if no deals are reached.
