Washington, (Reuters) .- The United States trade deficit was extended to a historical maximum in March because companies increased imports of goods before the wide tariffs of President Donald Trump, which dragged the GDP to the GDP to negative territory in the first quarter for the first time in three years.
The report of the Department of Commerce on Tuesday showed that the country imported a record amount of goods from 10 countries, including Mexico and Vietnam. However, imports from China were the lowest in five years and could continue to decrease, since Trump has increased tariffs on Chinese products to an amazing 145%.
There are reports of a massive decrease in charge from China.
Although reciprocal tariffs with most US business partners were suspended for 90 days, tariffs on Chinese products entered into force in early April, which triggered a commercial war with Beijing. Economists expect that the upward trend of imports probably remained in April.
“Companies are clearly struggling in this time of unprecedented changes, but the worst, without a doubt, is yet to come, since the collection of import tariff FWDBONDS.
The commercial deficit increased 14%, or 17.3 billion dollars, to reach a record of 140.5 billion dollars, according to the Office of Economic Analysis of the Department of Commerce.
Economists surveyed by Reuters had predicted that the commercial deficit would amount to $ 137,000 million.
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Imports fired 4.4%, reaching a historical maximum of 419,000 million dollars. Assets of goods fired 5.4%, reaching a record of 346.8 billion dollars. These imports were driven by an increase of 22.5 billion dollars in consumer goods, which reached a historical maximum, mainly pharmaceutical products from Ireland. Trump has promised to impose tariffs on pharmaceutical products.
Capital goods imports increased 3.7 billion dollars, reaching a historical maximum, reflecting a solid increase in the computer accessories market. Imports of motor vehicles, parts and engines increased 2.6 billion dollars, driven by cars.
But imports of industrial supplies decreased to 10.7 billion dollars in the middle of a decrease of 10.3 billion dollars in metal forms finished, probably silver, and a fall of 1.8 billion dollars in non -monetary gold, which had explained the largest commercial gap in the previous two months.
Economists affirmed that these data suggested a flight of capital of the US dollar, since the changing tariff policy of the White House scared investors. Crude oil imports fell 1.2 billion dollars.
“The period after the November elections, from December 2024 to March 2025, registered an interannual accumulated hoarding of gold and silver linges abroad from 92.5 billion dollars,” said Brian Bethune, economy professor at Boston College.
“This ‘parking’ of the few US savings in unproductive assets and without income has negative consequences for the US dollar,” he added.
The dollar has weakened approximately 5.11% so far this year compared to the currencies of the main US commercial partners. This Tuesday the currency quoted downwards in front of a foreign exchange basket.
The actions on Wall Street also fell while the yields of the American treasure bonds were mixed.
Federal Reserve officials began a two -day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday. While the US Central Bank is expected to keep interest rates without changes on Wednesday, the press conference of the president of the FED, Jerome Powell, will be very followed to obtain clues about when monetary flexibility could be resumed
Exports increase marginally
Exports increased 0.2%, to 278.5 billion dollars, also a historical maximum. Exports of goods increased 0.7%, to 183,200 million dollars, its highest level since July 2022, driven by industrial supplies and materials, which advanced 2.2 billion dollars thanks to the increase in the price of natural gas and non -monetary gold.
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Exports of motor vehicles, parts and engines increased by 1.2 billion dollars. However, capital goods exports decreased by $ 1.5 billion, weighed down for a decrease of 1.8 billion dollars in civil aircraft shipments. The trade deficit of goods shot 11.2%, reaching a record of 163.5 billion dollars in March.
The US government reported last week that the commercial deficit reduced a record of 4.83 percentage points of GDP The last quarter, which caused the economy to contract at an annualized rate of 0.3%, the first fall from the first quarter of 2022.
Trump considers tariffs as a tool to raise income and compensate for his fiancious tax cuts, as well as to revitalize an American industrial base in decline. Economists foresee that import flow decreases for May, which could boost GDP recovery in the second quarter.
However, they warn that relief derived from import subsidies could be limited by a drop in exports, since other countries boycotten US products and trips. There has been a decrease in the number of visitors to the United States, especially from Canada, in protest of punitive tariffs, as well as by migratory repression and Trump’s reflections on the annexation of Canada and Greenland.
In fact, services exports fell 900 million dollars to 95.2 billion dollars in March, dragged by a drop of 1.3 billion dollars on trips.
The hurry to overcome tariffs made the imports of Mexico, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, India and Vietnam reach historical maximums. However, China imports were the lowest since March 2020, when the world dealt with the first wave of the Covid-19 Pandemia.
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The commercial deficit of goods with China, seasonally adjusted, was reduced to 24.8 billion dollars, from the 26.6 billion dollars in February. The commercial deficit with Canada also decreased to 4.9 billion dollars, from the 7,400 million dollars in February. The commercial deficit with Mexico remained practically unchanged, while the surplus with the United Kingdom was reduced.
“Imports from the EU were substantial in March, especially those of Ireland, and could decrease in April. But, in any case, imports from some Asian countries could increase even more, since the largest tariffs, from 40% to 50%, were delayed until July,” said Veronica Clark, Citigroup economist.
With Reuters information
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