U.S. trade deficit in goods widens sharply in March as imports surge

The U.S. trade deficit in goods widened sharply in March as imports surged, suggesting that trade exerted a large drag on economic growth in the first quarter. The goods trade gap increased 9.6 per cent to $162.0-billion, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Tuesday. Goods imports soared $16.3-billion to $342.7-billion, likely as businesses rushed to bring in goods to avoid President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs. Economists have cautioned that imports, which were also boosted by nonmonetary gold imports, could greatly exaggerate an anticipated economic slowdown in gross domestic product growth in the January-March quarter. Imports are a subtraction in…