US April goods gap narrows on export surge

U.S. Commerce Department data for April showed the U.S. goods trade deficit narrowed 3.4% to $82.4 billion. The improvement reflected a stronger gain in exports than in imports, signaling a modest shift in the balance of merchandise trade for the month.

Exports of goods increased by $8.5 billion in April to $219.7 billion, while goods imports rose $5.6 billion to $302.1 billion. Because exports outpaced imports in dollar terms, the overall goods trade shortfall shrank compared with March.

Reports cited record shipments in a category that includes oil and petroleum products as a key factor behind the export increase. Bloomberg reported that record exports in this category helped offset continued strength in imports of capital goods.

U.S. exports of crude oil averaged a record volume of more than 6.4 million barrels per day in April. Shipments of fuels including petrol, diesel and jet fuel also surged, contributing to the rise in overall export values and helping to narrow the goods trade gap.

Despite the narrower deficit, imports remained high, especially for capital goods. Coverage noted continued inflows of equipment tied to the artificial-intelligence build-out, underscoring ongoing investment-related demand for machinery and technology-related products.

These elevated capital-goods imports partly offset the export boost from energy products. Even so, the net effect of stronger exports and slower import growth, in dollar terms, produced an improvement in the merchandise balance for April.

Financial-market forecasts had pointed to a larger trade gap than ultimately reported. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists for April’s goods deficit was about $87 billion, above the actual $82.4 billion figure released by the Commerce Department.

The April release covers merchandise trade only. Outlets noted that more comprehensive trade data, including the services balance alongside goods, are scheduled for a later release, which will provide a fuller picture of the overall U.S. trade position for the month.