U.S. imports fell sharply in the second quarter, boosting GDP rise.

Jin10 data reported on July 30: The rebound in the U.S. economy for the second quarter was mainly due to a significant decrease in imports, rather than a true acceleration of the U.S. economy itself. Tom Porcelli, Chief U.S. Economist at PGIM Fixed Income, stated: “Looking solely at the overall change in GDP does not truly reflect the situation beneath the economic surface.” He pointed out that quarterly GDP growth is strongly influenced by inventory and trade, two highly volatile factors. Earlier this year, businesses imported goods in advance, leading to a surge in imports that dragged down the first quarter GDP. Since the second quarter, goods imports have cumulatively fallen by 23% since March, completely erasing the “advance import effect” caused by tariffs in the first quarter, and further suppressing import levels. Meanwhile, exports have only decreased by 2.5%, which means net exports will significantly boost GDP in the second quarter.