Surging U.S. imports, while likely temporary, are frustrating the president’s goal of reducing America’s trade imbalances

The rush to get goods to the U.S. ahead of President Trump’s tariffs has already led to huge distortions in global trade patterns and economic data. It isn’t over yet.

U.S. imports surged more than 40% at an annualized rate in the first quarter, data showed Wednesday. That drove down gross domestic product by 0.3%.

Now, there is a second leg to the rush. The president’s decision on April 9 to pause so-called reciprocal tariffs for 90 days on every trading partner except China has presented businesses around the world with a new deadline to beat. The stakes are high: Many Asian imports could face tariffs of more than 40% while goods from the European Union are in line for a 20% levy.

Roger Lund has a container full of Christmas decorations from Germany that he needs in Baltimore port by July 8, after which the tariff he pays on the cargo is set to double.

His retailer, the Christmas Haus, normally imports a container full of 20,000 Christmas baubles, nutcrackers, lights and other items in late July. This year, Lund moved up the cargo to leave Bremen, Germany, on June 2.

“Quite frankly I still don’t know if we’ll make it,” he said of beating the deadline and being sure of only a 10% tariff. “It is maddening as a business owner who relies on certainty to plan my budgets.”

Lund’s Gettysburg, Pa., business is one of many—from whiskey distributors to furniture shops—that are stocking up before the tariff pause ends just after midnight on July 9. As businesses like his have brought forward their shipments, the U.S. trade deficit in goods has exploded, reaching a record $162 billion in March, according to early estimates released this week.

The import surge is frustrating Trump’s goal of reducing America’s trade imbalances with the rest of the world. 

“The tariff front-running is exactly what the U.S. didn’t want happening,” said Melanie Debono, senior Europe economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. “The U.S. wants to limit trade [deficits] with everyone else.”

Some European and Asian manufacturers, meanwhile, are enjoying a temporary boom in sating the demand. 

Exports to the U.S. helped the eurozone’s economy grow by an unexpectedly large 1.4% in the first quarter, while Taiwan expanded 9.7% at an annualized rate.

Surveys of European businesses conducted after the April 2 tariff announcement have been surprisingly upbeat, due largely to higher manufacturing production. A gauge of eurozone manufacturing output from S&P Global jumped to a three-year high in April, according to an early reading.

The number of freight trucks on the road in Germany has been on the rise in recent weeks, according to Pantheon Macroeconomics, a sign of increased industrial activity. The cost of shipping a container from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to California by sea has continued to climb in April. Shipping rates are also elevated for routes to the U.S. from Indonesia and Europe, according to Judah Levine, head of research at freight-booking company Freightos.

To be sure, the front-loading frenzy is likely to fade in coming months as the expiration of Trump’s tariff pause approaches in July. China’s export orders have collapsed since Trump excluded the country from the pause and instead raised its tariffs to 145%. Global merchandise trade volumes are expected to contract by 0.2% in 2025, after rising 2.9% last year, according to the World Trade Organization.

“There’s a near-term boost because exports have been ramped up to the max, but we could get a bit of a crash in export growth later in the year,” said James Knightley, chief international economist at ING in New York.

The Trump administration has also embarked on a high-speed effort to negotiate ad hoc deals with more than 70 countries hoping to escape the higher tariffs. 

But for now, many U.S. importers and foreign exporters aren’t taking the chance.

On May 5, IrishAmerican Whiskey plans to ship 14,000 bottles from Liverpool, England, that the company hopes will get to New York around nine days later. 

The company’s five-year-old Irish whiskey has been selling better than expected in the U.S., prompting the company to replenish clients’ stocks ahead of schedule to beat the tariff deadline, said Michael McKay, a director at IrishAmerican.

It isn’t just foreign exporters eager to beat the higher tariffs. Dan Leese, chief executive of San Francisco-based drinks importer Hotaling & Co., is reviewing whether to stock up on a range of Irish and Japanese whiskeys, among other drinks.

He says demand for those drinks, which face fierce competition, are among those most likely to be affected by any price rises, making it all the more important to avoid the higher rate tariffs.

“This is an ever-changing environment, so all plans are fluid,” he said.

At a furniture manufacturer outside of Ho Chi Minh City, workers are putting in overtime hours to meet a 25% surge in orders as U.S. importers rush to get products out of Vietnam before 90 days elapse.

The deadline, though, has caused uncertainty. Some executives say that they are confused over whether the cutoff will be from when their cargo departs Vietnam, or when it arrives in the U.S. If the latter, they only have a month left to send goods, they say. 

Inside the factory, in the tropical heat of southern Vietnam, assembly lines of workers layer and press thin sheets of wood into plywood. The factory expanded its production to kitchen cabinets a few years ago for U.S. customers looking for alternatives to China.

For some companies, though, there are limits to how much they can ship ahead of time.

On a recent earnings call, executives at Dutch brewer Heineken said the company had been sending extra shipments of its beers to the U.S. but cautioned it couldn’t fully mitigate the impact of tariffs that way.

“Beer expires, as you know,” said finance chief Harold van den Broek.

Write to Alistair MacDonald at Alistair.Macdonald@wsj.com, Chelsey Dulaney at chelsey.dulaney@wsj.com and Hannah Miao at hannah.miao@wsj.com