Key takeout
The decline in economic growth was largely due to a surge in imports as people were rushing to buy things from overseas before the tariffs on President Donald Trump began. Imports are deducted from the total GDP.
Despite the improvements in total GDP figures, consumer spending, a key pillar of economic health, has been revised downwards.
The US economy shrunk slightly in the first quarter than previously thought, according to revised data released Thursday.
Gross domestic product (GDP) shrank at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.2% in the first quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday after revising preliminary data with new information. This was a decrease of less than 0.3% from the station first reported in April. GDP data will be revised one more time before finalising.
Despite improved GDP figures, some details of the report were shown in a slightly worse state of the economy. Consumer spending, the main driver of economic growth, has been revised downward, but there has been an increase in corporate investments that exceed that slip.
The economists said the decline in GDP, the first negative growth since 2022, was largely due to people rushing to buy imported products before President Donald Trump’s tariffs take hold. The value of the import is counted against the total GDP.
