U.S. imports see largest plunge on record in April
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U.S. goods imports plummeted in April, per data out Thursday, as President Trump's tariff policies rocked the global trade system.
Why it matters: The decline is a sharp reversal of the front-loading effect the previous month, when firms raced to import stuff before the tariffs took hold.
Zoom in: The monthly drop in imports is the largest on record, per the Commerce Department.
- Imports were still up from this time last year, however.
The big picture: Trade with China fell to its lowest point since a historic pandemic shut the global economy.
- April imports from China, at $25.4 billion, were the lowest since March 2020 ($19.6 billion).
- And U.S. exports to the country also fell off a cliff to $8.2 billion — compared to $7.9 billion, as COVID-19 first hit the U.S.
What they're saying: "It sure looks as though triple-digit tariff rates made a difference to trade flows, eh?" writes Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, in a note Thursday morning.
- The data is not really a sign of a weakening economy — unlike in the pandemic, companies stockpiled ahead of the tariff shock, and are now going to be drawing down elevated inventories of goods, he writes.
- That's put the U.S. in a "vortex in imports."
