WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly four years in the second quarter as consumers boosted spending and farmers rushed shipments of soybeans to China to beat retaliatory trade tariffs before they took effect in early July.
Gross domestic product increased at a 4.1 percent annualized rate also as government spending picked up, the Commerce Department said in its snapshot of second-quarter GDP on Friday. That was strongest performance since the third quarter of 2014.
January-March quarter GDP growth was revised up to a 2.2 percent pace from the previously reported 2.0 percent rate to account for new source information and methodology improvements.
Compared to the second quarter of 2017, the economy grew 2.8 percent. Output expanded 3.1 percent in the first half of 2018, putting the economy on track to achieve the Trump administration’s target of 3 percent annual growth.
A measure of domestic demand surged at a 4.3 percent rate in the second quarter. Ahead of the release, President Donald Trump and members of his economic team had been promoting the notion that second-quarter growth would be robust.
Earlier in the week Trump tweeted that the United States has “the best financial numbers on the planet.” The second-quarter increase in GDP was in line with economists’ expectations.
The dollar trimmed gains versus a basket of currencies on the data, while Treasury yields retreated from session highs. U.S. stock index futures pared gains.
With Friday’s report the government also published comprehensive revisions to prior GDP data, which did not change the previously presented economic picture.
The United States slapped 25 percent duties on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods effective July 6, provoking a similar response from Beijing, which targeted soybeans and other agricultural products
