- Largest deficit on record
- Prior was -147.91B
- Exports of goods for March were $180.8 billion, $2.2 billion more than February exports
- Imports of goods for March were $342.7 billion, $16.3 billion more than February imports
This is a surprisingly soft number and I’ve seen estimates at $145 billion. Given that there should have been some front-running of tariffs, this is likely to be the low for awhile. In any case, trade will be a major drag on Q1 GDP, in the first look tomorrow.
Looking into the details of the report:
- Consumer goods imports up 27.5% m/m
- Capital goods imports down 13.5% m/m (includes oil so oil prices falling could be it)
- Autos up 6.6% m/m
- Capital goods +3.8% m/m
- Full report
The advance report doesn’t break out gold imports, which have been a big source of the US trade balance lately but aren’t included in GDP.
This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.
