The US trade deficit reached a record $140.5 billion (€123.6 billion) in March, driven by a surge in imports, particularly pharmaceuticals, as businesses stockpiled to offset potential tariff impacts.
According to data from the US Department of Commerce, exports of goods and services totaled $278.5 billion (€244.9 billion), while imports climbed to $419 billion (€368.5 billion). A significant portion of this increase was due to pharmaceutical imports, which rose by $20.9 billion (€18.4 billion), as companies moved to secure supplies ahead of anticipated trade measures.
Economists suggest the import surge is largely sector-specific, with pharmaceuticals accounting for most of the growth. Other sectors, such as retail, showed less activity, possibly due to existing tariffs or uncertainty about future trade policies. Meanwhile, imports of capital goods and automobiles rose, while industrial materials, including steel and crude oil, declined amid existing levies.
The spike in imports coincided with heightened trade tensions as new tariff measures were announced. While the White House argues these tariffs will reduce trade deficits and bolster domestic manufacturing, experts caution they may lead to higher costs for businesses and consumers.
The increased imports contributed to a decline in the US economy's growth rate, with the first quarter seeing a 0.3% contraction in GDP. Analysts expect the import surge to stabilize in the coming months, alleviating some pressure on economic growth.
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European leaders gathered in Dublin on Thursday, 12 November, for the ninth European Political Community (EPC) summit, with security, defence and energy high on the agenda. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held talks focused on peace, trade and regional cooperation.
Iran will not let a single particle of its enriched nuclear material leave the country, and any new U.S. attack would be met with strikes on distant American bases, Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei has said.
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang is stepping down amid reports linking him to a woman suspected by U.S. authorities of spying for China, throwing the future of the $4 trillion chipmaker into uncertainty.
Kazakhstan’s security service has arrested Nurlan Zhakupov, CEO of Samruk-Kazyna, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, on suspicion of corruption. Yelzhas Otynshiyev, Chairman of KTZ, Kazakhstan’s national railway firm has also been detained.
Eight people have been killed and at least 17 injured after an apartment building collapsed into a neighbouring construction site in Brooklyn, New York, as rescuers continued searching the rubble for possible survivors.
BMW is recalling more than 720,000 vehicles in the U.S. over a fire risk, warning owners to park outside and away from buildings until repairs are completed. The recall follows 10 reported fires involving cars previously repaired for the same fault.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says 3.7 million children in Afghanistan are suffering from acute malnutrition, as worsening drought and funding shortages threaten to deepen the crisis amid the COP31 climate summit in Türkiye.
A consortium of Türkiye’s Limak and Qatar’s HBK Contracting has won an international tender to build and operate a new airport terminal in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, under a 23-year public-private partnership, with the project potentially costing up to $300 million.
Spain’s parliament has approved a government package aimed at easing the country’s housing crisis, a day after workers staged the first general strike in 14 years over soaring housing costs.
Here's your AnewZ Technology Daily Brief for the 13th of November. This week, a Microsoft outage hit Australian agencies, Google restricted mapping data in South Korea, a lawsuit targeted advanced AI development, and Nvidia faced a leadership crisis after Jensen Huang's resignation.
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