The US economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter of 2025, driven by falling imports and rising consumer spending. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that GDP grew at an annualized rate of 3.8%, compared to an initial estimate of 3.3%.
The increase was also supported by business investment in intellectual property products, particularly artificial intelligence (AI). A revised data also showed that the economy contracted by 0.6% in the first quarter, slightly worse than the original estimate of a 0.5% decline.
The impact of massive tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump prompted businesses to increase imports early in the year, which depressed GDP in the first quarter. However, as foreign goods flows eased, GDP rebounded in the second quarter.
However, economists caution that this figure does not fully reflect the true situation due to unusual import fluctuations. They expect growth to slow to around 1.5% for the rest of the year due to ongoing uncertainty over trade policy.
On the income side, gross domestic income (GDI) grew 3.8% in the second quarter, lower than the initial estimate of 4.8%. The average of GDP and GDI, known as gross domestic output, grew at a rate of 3.8%, slightly down from the previously estimated 4.0%.
