Washington (Reuters) – New orders for manufactured products in the United States increased more strongly than scheduled in February, upstream of the entry into force of new customs duties wanted by President Donald Trump.

These orders increased by 0.6% after a rebound of 1.8% in January (revised figure of +1.7%), said the US trade department on Wednesday. Economists interviewed by Reuters expected growth of only 0.5%.

In annual rate, these orders increased by 1.5% in February.

The manufacturing sector, which represents 10.2% of the US economy, could be paralyzed by the new customs duties that Donald Trump will announce this Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. GMT on Wednesday, after having notably imposed surcharge on steel and the automobile.

The American president, who made April 2 the “Liberation Day” (“Liberation Day”), considers customs duties as a tool to increase revenue to finance tax reductions and relaunch the declining sector of the industry. Most economists do not share this point of view and see in these surcharge a long-term obstacle for the prosperity of the United States.

The ISM Manufacturer index in the United States, published on Tuesday, has shown that activity growth in the sector has slowed more than expected in March, at 49.0 after 50.3 in the previous month. This deceleration comes after two consecutive months of expansion, companies massively expressing their concerns about customs duties.

US companies in the manufacturing sector depend on imports of raw materials. Import taxes should increase their production costs, which will be passed on to end customers. Companies could also be tempted to reduce their workforce to preserve their beneficiary margins.

In detail, orders for commercial aircraft fell 5.0%. Orders of motor vehicles, spare parts and trailers increased by 1.9%. Orders of transport equipment, for their part, increased by 1.5%. Orders of computers and electronic products have remained unchanged, while those of electrical equipment, devices and components rebounded by 1.9%.

Machine orders increased by 0.6%. If the transport equipment is excluded, factories’ orders increased by 0.4%.

The US trade department has also indicated that orders for non -military equipment, excluding planes, which are considered to be a measure of business spending projects in terms of equipment, decreased by 0.2% in February, instead of 0.3%, as estimated last month.

Deliveries of so -called basic equipment increased by 0.8% and not by 0.9% as indicated in the first estimate. Equipment expenses of companies should bounce back in the first quarter after being contracted in the fourth quarter.

(Report Lucia Mutikani; Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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