Q2 GDP Rose 3% Due to Trade Swings

Washington, DC, July 30, 2025-Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.0% in Q2 2025 (April, May, and June), according to the advance estimate released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. 

In the first quarter, real GDP decreased 0.5%.

The increase in real GDP in the second quarter primarily reflected a decrease in imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, and an increase in consumer spending. These movements were partly offset by decreases in investment and exports.

“The U.S. economy returned to growth in the second quarter after contracting in the first, largely due to trade swings,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

“The Commerce Department said U.S. gross domestic product-the value of all goods and services produced across the economy-rose at a seasonally and inflation adjusted 3.0% annual rate in the second quarter.

“The reading exceeded the 2.3% growth that economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected.

“It followed a first quarter where GDP shrank at a 0.5% annual rate as businesses loaded up on imports to get ahead of the Trump administration’s anticipated tariffs.

“An underlying measure of combined private consumer and business demand in the economy weakened.

“Consumer spending, the engine of the U.S. economy which accounts for roughly two-thirds of total output, increased at a 1.4% pace, picking up from the first quarter as a steady labor market underpinned households’ spending power. But consumer spending was offset by weaker business spending.”