the numbers the us trade deficit in goods shrank by 16 in april and eased off a record high but robust demand for imports such as oil and consumer electronics is likely to keep it at historically high levels in the months ahead an early or advanced look at the trade gap in goods showed that it fell to 1059 billion from an alltime high of 1259 billion in march according to census bureau figures imports fell and exports rose wall street economists had forecast the trade deficit to drop to about 115 billion last year the us posted the largest trade deficit ever the goods deficit topped 1 trillion for the very first time an advanced estimate of wholesale inventories meanwhile showed a 21 increase in april retail inventories rose 07 according to an early estimate big picture the record us trade largely explains the 15 decline in the first quarter in gross domestic product the official scorecard for the us economy deficits subtract from gdp the trade gap won’t weigh down gdp in the second quarter quite as much economists predict the us is likely to expand at an annual rate of 2 or so helped by the increase in inventories higher inventories add to gdp still the trade deficit is all but certain to set another record high in 2022 barring a recession americans have been gobbling up imports while exports have rebounded more slowly from the pandemic key details us imports fell 5 to 2798 billion in april reflecting lower oil prices and a decline in shipments of consumer goods such as cell phones lockdowns in china that delayed shipments of goods may have also contributed oil prices have risen since april however and could worsen the trade gap in may exports of americanmade goods climbed 31 in april to 1739 billion the us exported more food grains oil and autos the full trade report for april which includes services such as tourism and travel comes out next week market reaction the dow jones industrial average djia and sp 500 spx rose in friday trades