Storyline: The real gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States decreased by an annual rate of 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter of 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, indicating rising uncertainty caused by the government's tariff policies, which have led to declining business and consumer confidence. The real GDP was revised up 0.1 percentage point from the advance estimate, reflecting an upward revision to investment, but was partly offset by a downward revision to consumer spending, according to a report released by the Department of Commerce on Thursday. According to the report, the nonresidential fixed investment, which is a major indicator of business investment, increased by 10.3 percent, boosting the real GDP of the first quarter by 1.36 percentage points. The personal consumption expenditures, which make up about 70 percent of the U.S. economy, rose by 1.2 percent, adding 0.8 percentage points to GDP growth, but was far below previous expectations. A slowdown in automobile demand was the main factor behind this, along with a decline in spending on services such as healthcare and insurance, reflecting weak underlying demand. In terms of imports and exports, net exports contributed a 4.9 percentage point reduction to GDP, slightly worse than the initial estimate of 4.83 percentage points. The figure indicates that businesses, concerned about future tariff increases, have been stockpiling inventory in large quantities, leading to a surge in imports for the quarter. Meanwhile, federal government spending decreased by 4.6 percent, further dragging down economic growth by 0.3 percentage points, said the report. Shotlist: FILE: Washington D.C., USA - October 2024: 1. Various of U.S. Commerce Department building, U.S. national flag, traffic 2. Flag of U.S. Commerce Department FILE: New York City, USA - Date Unknown: 3. Various of shoppers, commodities in supermarket 4. Various of consumers at cashiers FILE: Boston, Massachusetts, USA - April 7, 2025: 5. Consumers shopping at supermarket FILE: Los Angeles, California, USA - April 7, 2025:6. Consumers walking with shopping carts at supermarket parking lot FILE: Racine, Wisconsin State, USA - Dec 2019: 7. Various of workers in farming machinery factory FILE: Flint, Michigan, USA - October 2019: 8. Various of automobile assembly line FILE: Los Angeles, USA - Date Unknown: 9. Various of traffic FILE: Los Angeles, USA - Nov 9, 2017: 10. Various of cranes handling containers at port FILE: Los Angeles, USA - Date Unknown: 11. Various of port FILE: New York City, USA - Oct 2024: 12. Various of Statue of Liberty, port scene. [Restrictions : No access Chinese mainland]