Race to beat Trump tariffs sends US imports soaring

US imports hit their highest on record in December as businesses responded to the threat of tariffs made by President Donald Trump by racing to secure foreign-made toys, mobile phones and computers.

The value of goods brought into the US jumped 4% from November to $293.1bn, the highest since records began in 1992, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.

The rise also contributed to the widest trade deficit, or gap, between exports and imports in nearly two years.

It comes as the future of global trade remains uncertain due to Trump’s plans for tariffs – a tax he has said he wants to see imposed on all foreign shipments into the country.

This week the president slapped a 10% tariff on goods from China, but suspended a planned 25% tariff on shipments from Canada and Mexico for a month in the face of widespread public alarm.

Without the pause, his orders would have raised the cost of shipments from America’s top three trading partners, which account for more than 40% of the roughly $3tn in goods the US imports each year.

Trump has said tariffs will encourage firms to make their products in the US, expressing repeated concern about the size of the trade deficit.

But the moves have sparked concerns about their effects US economy, as businesses respond to trade uncertainty by holding off on investments or pass on new costs to customers.

The tariffs have also provoked political tension, including retaliation from China, which responded to Trump’s move with tariffs on US goods and an anti-monopoly probe of Google, among other measures.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that the country’s anti-monopoly regulator was preparing for a possible investigation into Apple’s policies and App Store fees, hitting the company’s shares.

Trump’s moves – which included ordering an end of duty-free treatment for parcels worth less than $800 – will be a major “shock” to some firms, such as Shein and Temu, as they erode the ability to offer ultra-low prices, said Mark Williams, chief China economist at Capital Economics.

But he said he thought for China overall that the effects of Trump’s tariffs would not be too damaging.

“For the wider Chinese economy, this is definitely manageable,” he said.

China ranked as the county with the biggest deficit in goods in December, sending $25.3bn more into the US than it purchased.

The European Union, a target of Trump’s tariff threats, had the second largest gap.

By contrast, the US enjoyed a small surplus of $2.3bn in goods trade with the UK.

Overall, the trade deficit in the US, including services, rose 17% last year to a total of $918.4bn, as imports increased faster than exports.

In December, the trade deficit in goods and services was $98.4bn, the highest since March 2022, the Commerce Department said.