‘Cut By More Than Half’: CNBC Details Massive Tariff-Driven Drop In Trade Deficit

President Donald Trump’s tariffs have driven a massive drop in the trade deficit — going from nearly $140 billion in March to $61.6 billion in April.

According to the latest numbers, which were detailed during a Thursday morning broadcast on CNBC, the sharp drop in the trade deficit also fueled a significant bump in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — the Atlanta Fed GDP now was at 4.64%.

“The big news is there is how much it bolsters GDP — just look at Atlanta Fed GDP now, which is at 4.64%,” the anchor noted.

WATCH:

CNBC: In April, the U.S. trade deficit fell to $61.6 billion — cut by more than HALF compared to March's $138.3 billion.

"The big news is there is how much it bolsters GDP — just look at Atlanta Fed GDP now, which is at 4.64%." pic.twitter.com/9R8hHlC9d6

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 5, 2025

A New York Times report digging into some of the latest numbers indicated that the March trade deficit may have been slightly artificially inflated as imports surged to get ahead of the tariffs that everyone knew were coming. In addition, the NYT also noted the fact that the drop in the trade deficit almost exclusively reflected a decrease in imports — meaning that as production picked up domestically, that could also drive the deficit even lower.

President Trump celebrated the drop in the trade deficit one week earlier, playing video from another CNBC broadcast in the Oval Office.

“Personal income is up 0.8%. That is almost triple the expectation. The income numbers, really for the first four months of the year, they’re stellar. They’re really stellar. I mean, I could go back and look at the first four months of many different years, really very strong numbers,” anchor Rick Santelli said at the time.

“How the hell did they already fix the trade deficit? Or not fix it, but to cut it in half? That’s crazy,” Joe Kernen added.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you what, it really does call into question some of the conventional wisdoms. And you know it’s going to be interesting to see what happens next month, when we get this number, or we see some of the other numbers—like current accounts—see how they fared. Because I don’t know, I’ve been watching these numbers a long time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the trade deficit cut in half for one month,” Santelli concluded.

Trump Shows Off CNBC Touting Tariffs: "How The Hell Did They Cut Trade Deficit In Half In One Month?"https://t.co/RxWqWZSXdQ pic.twitter.com/FAzREzstRk

— RCP Video (@rcpvideo) May 30, 2025