American businesses led the purchasing of big-ticket items in the last month in an apparent attempt to beat anticipated higher prices caused by pending tariffs.
The Census Bureau’s monthly report on business activity and purchases of durable goods showed a better than 9% increase in business purchases for March, compared with less than 1% in February.
That increase amounted to a bump of $26.6 billion in sales. The report also indicated transportation-related equipment sales rose 27% with an increase over February of $26.5 billion.
There’s little doubt the trade strategy and tariffs used by President Donald Trump played heavily into March’s numbers. Trump told the CEOs of U.S. automakers in March he would not look favorably on any increase in their prices as he started imposing a 25% tariff on auto imports. The tariff rollout got more involved since then.
CNBC reported that despite the president’s warnings, auto manufacturers are looking for ways to recover costs based on the tariff charges. The network said a Federal Reserve economic report does not indication that the pre-tariff business purchasing bump would likely carry into future months, at least not at the same level.
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