U.S. Retail Sales Slow Sharply In April as Pre-Tariff Spending Reverses

Retail sales slowed in April as President Trump’s tariffs weighed on U.S. consumers, who appeared to have pulled forward some key purchases into March in anticipation of the levies.

A 2.5% drop in sales at sporting goods and hobby stores led the monthly declines.

Headline retail sales rose just 0.1% last month—slightly better than economists’ expectations for no growth, but sharply lower than the 1.7% jump recorded in March, according to Census Bureau data, Josh Schafer reported for Yahoo Finance.

The control group in the report—which excludes volatile categories and factors into quarterly GDP—fell 0.2%, missing expectations for a 0.3% increase. In March, control group sales had risen 0.5%.

April sales excluding autos and gas climbed 0.2%, short of the 0.3% estimate and down from the 1.1% gain the prior month. A 2.5% drop in sales at sporting goods and hobby stores led the monthly declines.

Department store sales fell 1.4%, and specialty retailers saw a 2.1% drop. April’s weakness followed a surge in March, when consumers accelerated spending ahead of the implementation of key tariffs in Trump’s latest trade actions.