The U.S. trade deficit in goods unexpectedly widened in March and GDP is expected to slow down in the first quarter

The U.S. trade deficit in goods unexpectedly widened to a record level in March as businesses continued to import large quantities of goods before the imposition of tariffs.

Data released by the US Department of Commerce on Tuesday (April 29) showed that the trade deficit in goods rose 9.6% month-on-month in March to $162 billion. The data, unadjusted for inflation factors, exceeded the expectations of all economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Driven by imports of consumer goods, imports rose by 5% to 342.7 billion US dollars in March. Exports increased by 1.2% in the current month.

A Bloomberg survey of economists shows that their median forecast is a 0.3% growth in GDP, the lowest growth rate since 2022.

The report released by Carl Weinberg, the chief economist of High Frequency Economics, said: "Trade data support our estimate of a 1.1% contraction in GDP..." It even implies that there is a downside risk in our prediction.