Imports Contribution to US GDP Growth

## What this measures

Percentage points of annualized real GDP growth attributed to imports of goods and services. Imports are subtracted in the GDP arithmetic, so a rise in real imports shows as a negative contribution.

## Why it matters

Imports move ahead of and after tariff changes as firms stockpile and then draw inventories down. Those swings can dominate a quarter's headline growth.

## How to read it

More negative means imports grew faster. A large negative reading is not by itself a sign of weakness: the imported goods are counted as spending or inventory elsewhere in the same quarter.

## What it does not say

It does not show what was imported or from where. It is revised with each BEA estimate.

## Source

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, National Income and Product Accounts Table 1.1.2 (Contributions to Percent Change in Real Gross Domestic Product), read through FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (series A021RY2Q224SBEA). BEA data are in the public domain. Palanor syncs the series nightly; each quarter's figure is revised with BEA's second and third estimates and annual updates, and the stored history takes those revisions.