U.S. Import Prices Surge 4.2% YoY, Export Prices Jump 8.8% YoY in April 2026

U.S. trade prices accelerated sharply in April 2026, with import prices rising 1.9 percent on the month and 4.2 percent year-over-year — the largest 12-month advance since October 2022. Export prices surged even more dramatically, climbing 3.3 percent in April and 8.8 percent over the past year, the biggest annual gain since September 2022. The breadth of the increase, spanning fuel and nonfuel categories on the import side and both agricultural and nonagricultural goods on the export side, signals that tariff-driven cost pressures are now embedded across the full spectrum of U.S. trade flows.

Fuel Prices Drive the Import Surge

The most striking component of April's import price jump was fuel. Import prices for fuels and lubricants rose 16.3 percent in the month — the largest single-month advance since March 2022 — following an already-elevated 10.0 percent gain in March. Within the fuel category, the moves were dramatic but divergent:

• Import petroleum and petroleum products: rose 19.0 percent in April
• Import natural gas: fell 22.1 percent in April
• Fuel imports, year-over-year: up 20.0 percent from April 2025 to April 2026
• Import petroleum, year-over-year: up 22.0 percent over the same period

The petroleum surge more than offset the natural gas decline, pushing the aggregate fuel index sharply higher. Outside of energy, nonfuel import prices rose a more moderate 0.8 percent in April, accelerating from 0.2 percent in March. On a 12-month basis, nonfuel import prices are up 2.9 percent — also the largest such advance since October 2022 — driven by capital goods, nonfuel industrial supplies and materials, and consumer goods excluding automotives. Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines were the lone nonfuel category to decline, falling 0.1 percent in April.

Export Prices Post Broadest Gains Since 2022

The export side of the ledger was equally striking. Nonagricultural export prices jumped 3.4 percent in April after rising 1.6 percent in March and 2.1 percent in February — three consecutive months of accelerating gains. The 12-month advance for nonagricultural exports reached 9.3 percent, with nonagricultural industrial supplies and materials leading the charge. Within that category, petroleum and chemicals prices surged, more than offsetting lower nonferrous metals prices.

Agricultural exports also contributed, with prices rising 1.6 percent in April — the largest monthly increase since October 2024 — lifted by fruit and meat. Over the past 12 months, agricultural export prices are up 4.3 percent, driven by soybeans and meat.

Finished goods export prices were mixed:

• Capital goods: up 0.7 percent, led by computers, peripherals, and semiconductors
• Consumer goods (ex-auto): up 0.5 percent
• Automotive vehicles, parts, and engines: down 0.1 percent, the first monthly decline since July 2025

The locality data underscores how broadly the export price acceleration is distributed. Prices for exports to the European Union rose 4.5 percent in April — the largest monthly gain since March 2022 — while exports to Japan advanced 3.0 percent and exports to China climbed 2.1 percent, extending a run that has pushed the 12-month gain for China-bound exports to 4.8 percent.

Import Price Revisions and Country-Level Signals

This month's release included minor revisions to prior data. The January 2026 import price index was revised down slightly from 142.2 to 142.1, while the March 2026 import price index was nudged up from 144.6 to 144.8. The March 2026 export price index was revised marginally lower from 161.0 to 160.8. All three revisions are well below the 0.3 percentage point materiality threshold and do not alter the directional narrative.

The locality data for imports adds important context.

• Import prices from Canada surged 5.6 percent in April — the largest monthly rise since March 2022 — likely reflecting tariff pass-through on energy and goods trade.
• Import prices from China rose 0.8 percent, the largest one-month advance since July 2008, and are now up 0.3 percent year-over-year, the first annual gain since December 2022.
• Import prices from the European Union and Mexico also rose, by 0.9 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. These country-level patterns suggest that tariff and currency dynamics are simultaneously pushing up costs from multiple trading partners, not just one.

The U.S. terms of trade with Canada deteriorated, falling 3.7 percent in April as import prices from Canada outpaced export prices to Canada. By contrast, terms of trade improved with

• China (up 1.3 percent),
• Japan (up 2.1 percent),
• the European Union (up 3.6 percent),
• Mexico (up 1.4 percent).

Note: Some October and November 2025 data values are unavailable due to the 2025 lapse in appropriations, creating gaps in the monthly series for those periods.

The next Import and Export Price Indexes release, covering May 2026 data, is scheduled for Tuesday, June 16, 2026. The key figure to watch will be whether nonfuel import prices maintain their acceleration above 0.8 percent — a second consecutive month at that pace would confirm that tariff cost pass-through has moved beyond energy into the broader goods economy.