U.S. imports see largest plunge on record in April
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.


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."
