The US trade deficit hit a new record in March as imports surged ahead of President Donald Trump's tariffs, according to new government data, AFP reports.

The overall trade deficit of the world's largest economy jumped 14 percent to $140.5 billion for the month, the Commerce Department said.

That's the widest deficit in a single month in history dating back to 1992 and marks a $17.3 billion increase from February's revised $123.2 billion gap.

"Businesses pulled forward needed industrial supplies and retailers stocked their shelves with consumer goods in March ahead of the tariffs," Wells Fargo economists wrote in a note to clients.

The data covers the month before Trump introduced high levies on China and lower "baseline" levies of 10% on goods from most other countries.

The White House also introduced higher duties on dozens of other trading partners, then suspended them until July to give the U.S. time to renegotiate existing trade agreements.

The trade deficit for March exceeded the median estimate of $137.6 billion from surveys of economists conducted by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. 

The trade deficit was the result of a 4.4% rise in imports to $419 billion as people rushed to buy goods before the widely watched tariffs were introduced.

The biggest increase was in imports of consumer goods, which rose by $22.5 billion in March.

Exports rose by a modest 0.2% to $278.5 billion.

"April may bring a last-ditch effort by firms to escape tariffs, but after that net exports will reverse dramatically," Wells Fargo economists said. | BGNES