US April Trade Deficit Narrows as Surging Exports Outpace Rising Imports

11:54 AM EDT, 06/09/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The US trade deficit narrowed in April as export growth outpaced an increase in imports, government data showed Tuesday.

The goods and services deficit narrowed $700 million to $55.9 billion in April from March on a seasonally adjusted basis, the US Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis said. The consensus was for a deficit of $56.1 billion in a Bloomberg survey.

Exports increased 2.6% to $327.1 billion in April and imports rose 2% to $383 billion.

"Soaring oil exports are helping to narrow the US trade gap, with tariffs playing a more minor role in slowing imports," Sal Guatieri, BMO Capital Markets senior economist, said in a note. The export gain was driven by "surging crude sales" while computer hardware and microchips continued to fuel import growth, he said.

"The strength in exports relative to imports provides some upside risk to our forecast" that net trade will subtract 0.6 percentage points from GDP growth in Q2, Grace Zwemmer, US economist at Oxford Economics, said in a note. "The reliance on electronics equipment from abroad means that AI spending has had a marginal impact on GDP so far," Zwemmer said.

In the year through April, the goods and services deficit decreased $213.5 billion from a year earlier.

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