The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the United States suffered a contraction of less than 0.1% in the first three months of the year compared to the last quarter of 2024, according to the second reading of the data, published this Thursday by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.
In annualized figures, the contraction of the world's largest economy in the first quarter was 0.2%, one-tenth less than initially estimated, compared to the 2.4% expansion observed in the fourth quarter of 2024. This is the first contraction of the US economy since the first quarter of 2022, when the GDP declined by 1% on an annualized quarterly basis.
"The real GDP decline in the first quarter mainly reflected an increase in imports, which are deducted from the GDP calculation, and a decrease in public spending," explained the office attached to the Department of Commerce in words quoted by Europa Press.
In this sense, the one-tenth upward revision of the annualized GDP evolution compared to the preliminary data published at the end of April reflects a greater improvement in investment, which was partially offset by a downward revision of consumer spending.
This GDP decline contrasts with the 2.4% growth recorded in the fourth quarter of 2024 and is motivated by an increase in inventories in anticipation of Trump's tariff policies, who returned to the White House on January 20. In fact, imports increased by 42.6% in the first three months of the year, which is one point and three tenths higher than the first estimate published on April 30.
However, this decline was partially offset by increases in investment, consumption, and exports. Household spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the US economy, advanced by 1.2%, six tenths less according to the revised data, while private domestic investment increased by 24.4%, two and a half points higher than the initial figure published at the end of April.
US exports also increased by 2.4%, six tenths higher than the preliminary data, while the decline in public spending was halved in this revision to 0.7%, one of the factors that contributed to the upward revision of the US GDP contraction in the first quarter.