The US trade deficit exploded in March to $51.4 billion, a six-year high.
This was much more than the $41.7 billion economists had expected, according to Bloomberg. It's the largest deficit since October 2008.
The deficit rose by 43.1%, the largest in 18 years, Bloomberg noted.
The nine-month slowdown at West Coast ports due to a labor contract dispute caused a backlog of cargo which is now being cleared.
"Trade balance trounces expectations as March imports rise 7.7% due to West Coast Ports resuming full operations," Bloomberg economist Carl Riccadonna tweeted.
In their Global Economics Weekly note, Barclays economists wrote that they expected the trade balance to widen sharply "as the resolution of the West Coast port strikes led to a sharp reversal of the slump in imports."
"Inbound cargo volumes rose sharply on the month with outbound volumes up much more modestly," they wrote.
Riccadonna also said the surge in imports makes it likely that Q1 GDP will be revised to zero, from the disappointing 0.2% print reported last week.
Last month, we noted a chart from Steven Englander, Citi's Global Head of G10 FX Strategy, which showed that the number of inbound containers to the West Coast ports had started approaching where it was mid-2014, when the slowdown started.
Here's a chart from the Census Bureau showing the big slump in March:
