The US trade deficit reached a new record in March, according to fresh government data published Tuesday, as imports surged ahead of President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff rollout.
The overall trade gap of the world’s largest economy jumped 14.0 percent to $140.5 billion for the month, the Commerce Department said in a statement.
This was the widest deficit for a month on record, dating back to 1992, and marked a $17.3 billion increase from a revised gap of $123.2 billion in February.
“Businesses pulled forward needed industrial supplies and retailers stocked their shelves with consumer goods in March ahead of tariffs,” economists at Wells Fargo wrote in a note to clients.
The data covers the month before Trump introduced steep levies on China, and lower “baseline” levies of 10 percent on goods from most other countries.
The White House also introduced higher tariffs on dozens of other trading partners, and then paused them until July to give the United States time to renegotiate existing trade arrangements.
The March trade deficit came in above the median estimate of $137.6 billion from surveys of economists conducted by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
The trade gap was the result of a 4.4 percent rise in imports to $419.0 billion, as people rushed to buy goods ahead of the introduction of the widely trailed tariffs.
By far the largest increase was seen in the import of consumer goods, which increased by $22.5 billion in March.
Exports rose by a modest 0.2 percent to $278.5 billion.
“April may bring a last ditch effort of firms front running tariffs, but after that net exports are set to reverse dramatically,” the economists at Wells Fargo said.
