Orders tumble by 3.7 percent after a rise in March when businesses increased purchases in anticipation of tariffs.
Published On 3 Jun 2025
Orders from United States factories have tumbled in April after a surge in March when businesses had front-loaded purchases in anticipation of tariffs.
New orders for US manufactured goods dropped by 3.7 percent on a monthly basis, worse than economists had expected, according to Census Bureau data released on Tuesday.
Economists polled by the Reuters news agency expected a 3.1 percent drop. Dow Jones forecast a 3.3 percent drop. On an annual basis, however, factory orders rose by 2 percent.
April’s report is in sharp contrast to the 3.4 percent increase in March, which topped five straight months of increases.
Manufacturing, which accounts for 10.2 percent of the US economy, has been put under pressure by President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs. Trump sees the tariffs as a tool to raise revenue to offset his promised extension of tax cuts and to revive a long-declining industrial base, a feat that economists argued was impossible in the short term because of labour shor