Shafaqna English– During the second quarter, the pace of U.S. economic expansion moderated, largely because a surge in imports widened the trade deficit and subtracted from overall GDP growth.
Despite this headwind, two key indicators pointed to underlying strength in the domestic economy: consumer spending remained remarkably resilient, and businesses continued to invest heavily in infrastructure related to artificial intelligence—both of which suggest that domestic demand was far from weak.
The Commerce Department’s latest GDP report, released on Thursday(30 Jul 2026), attributed the slowdown not only to the trade imbalance but also to two other contributing factors.
First, businesses continued to draw down their inventories at a steady pace in order to keep up with robust consumer demand. Second, the government reduced its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which in turn lowered federal spending figures. Together, these elements exerted a measurable drag on the overall GDP growth rate for the quarter.