US Manufacturing Sector Contracted in March, Report Says

The Trump administration is announcing reciprocal tariffs on trade partners to boost domestic manufacturing.

A worker affixes labels to a baseball bat on the production line at Rawlings sporting goods in Dolgeville, N.Y., on March 1, 2017. William Edwards/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. manufacturing activity registered a decline in March, with new orders and factory production falling for the month, according to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).

“The Manufacturing PMI registered 49 percent in March, 1.3 percentage points lower compared to the 50.3 percent recorded in February,” ISM said in an April 1 statement.