In April, U.S. exports of goods and services rose by 2.6% to $327.1 billion, largely driven by increased oil exports due to the ongoing conflict with Iran. Imports climbed 2% to $383 billion, leading to a reduced trade deficit of $55.9 billion. The Trump administration aims to decrease the trade deficit, which has shown variability over the past year. Despite recent improvements in export numbers attributed to rising energy prices, there are uncertainties about the sustainability of this growth. Additionally, ongoing tariff adjustments and the legal challenges surrounding them continue to influence trade dynamics.

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U.S. exports of goods and services rose 2.6 percent in April, to $327.1 billion, according to data the Commerce Department released on Tuesday, as the war with Iran boosted U.S. exports of oil and petroleum products to a new monthly record. Exports of industrial supplies, computers and aircraft were also strong.

Imports also rose, climbing 2 percent from the previous month, to hit $383 billion, as the United States imported electronics to fill out data centers.

The combination shrank the monthly trade deficit, the gap between what the United States imports and what it exports. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services dipped to $55.9 billion in April, down 1.2 percent from the previous month.

The Trump administration aims to reduce the trade deficit, seeing it as a sign of weakness in the U.S. factory sector. While the trade deficit has been extremely volatile, for much of the last year it has been on average slightly smaller than it was in the year leading up to President Trump’s returning to office.

Trump officials have celebrated that change. But it is still debatable whether those trends are the result of more lasting changes to the economy due to the tariffs, or other more temporary factors.

In April, for example, booming U.S. oil exports because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz more than accounted for the drop-off in the trade deficit. And before tariffs went into effect last year, importers stockpiled a massive amount of foreign goods, thereby reducing their demand for imports in the next months.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has scrambled some global supply chains and pushed up the price of products from the Middle East, including oil, fertilizer, product packaging and helium. That has benefited oil exporters in other parts of the world, like the United States.

“The good news is that the trade picture is moving into better balance at the start of the second quarter as tariffs keep the growth of imports down relative to surprising strength seen in exports,” Chris Rupkey, the chief economist at FWDBONDS LLC, a financial markets research company, wrote in a note Tuesday morning. “The bad news is the export growth looks uncertain as much of it appears to be the result of higher energy prices from the Iran conflict.”

Importers have been preparing for the possibility of higher tariffs this year. In 2025, Mr. Trump imposed double-digit tariffs globally that varied depending on the trade negotiations the United States had carried out with individual countries, various economic factors and the president’s whims. But in February, the Supreme Court struck down those tariffs, ruling that Mr. Trump had exceeded his legal authorities in imposing them last year.

That administration withdrew those tariffs, and immediately replaced them with a flat 10 percent duty on every trading partner, issued under a legal authority known as Section 122.

The Section 122 tariff will expire in July unless Congress votes to reauthorize it. The Trump administration has been working on tariffs to replace it. Last week, it announced it would use a provision known as Section 301 to impose tariffs of 10 to 12.5 percent on more than 80 countries, potentially as soon as next month. More tariffs are on the way that would be added to those, most likely returning tariff rates to the levels seen before the Supreme Court decision.

Ana Swanson covers trade and international economics for The Times and is based in Washington. She has been a journalist for more than a decade.

See more on: U.S. Politics, Commerce Department, Donald Trump

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