Trump trade balance
  • Prior was -140.5B
  • Goods trade balance B vs -162.2B prior (prelim was -87.62B)
  • Prior goods trade balance was -147.85B
  • Exports vs +0.2% prior
  • Imports vs +4.4% prior

March was the largest-ever trade balance number as importers front-ran the Liberation Day tariffs. In April, imports fell dramatically and that caused a massive rebound in the trade balance. Notably though, April's balance is still only back to where it was in late-2023. I would expect some further improvement in May but it's going to be a mess as we work through the tariffs.

USD/JPY was trading at 143.17 ahead of the data but actually fell to 142.84. That's because initial jobless claims data released at the same time was dollar-negative.

Source: Forex Live