WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Largely reflecting a sharp pullback by the value of the imports, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing a substantial decrease in the size of the U.S. trade deficit in the month of April.
The Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $61.6 billion in April from a revised $138.3 billion in March. While downwardly revised, the trade deficit in March still reflected a record high.
Economists had expected the trade deficit to shrink to $94.0 billion from the $140.5 billion originally reported for the previous month.
The significantly smaller trade deficit came as the value of imports plummeted by 16.3 percent to $351.0 billion in April after spiking by 4.7 percent to $419.4 billion in March.
Imports of consumer goods, particularly pharmaceuticals, saw a steep drop during the month, while imports of industrial supplies and materials and automotive vehicles, parts and engines also fell sharply.
Meanwhile, the report said the value of exports jumped by 3.0 percent to $289.4 billion in April after climbing by 0.9 percent to $278.7 billion in March.
A spike by exports of industrial supplies and materials more than offset a notable decrease by exports of automotive vehicles, parts and engines.
'The economy has essentially hit pause on discretionary imports and is now working off inventories as businesses and consumers delay spending and wait for clarity on tariffs,' said Nationwide Financial Markets Economist Oren Klachkin.
He added, 'US trade flows and the broad economy will remain exposed to tariff risks and a return to pre-existing tariff levels seems unlikely at this juncture even if the IEEPA tariffs are eventually forbidden by the courts.'
The Commerce Department also said the goods deficit plunged to $87.4 billion in April from $162.6 billion in March, while the services surplus rose to $25.8 billion in April from $24.3 billion in March.
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