The U.S. trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in September to the smallest since 2020, delayed government data showed Thursday, with imports rising just slightly as President Donald Trump’s new tariffs set in.

The overall trade deficit fell 10.9% to $52.8 billion, the lowest since mid-2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This came as exports rose 3.0% to $289.3 billion, while imports edged up 0.6% to $342.1 billion, the Commerce Department said.

The trade figures are the latest in a series of official economic reports postponed due to a record-long government shutdown between October and mid-November.

The stoppage had left officials and companies to navigate policy and business decisions without key indicators on the health of the world’s biggest economy. But reports are now trickling out.

The Budget Lab at Yale University estimated as of November that consumers face an overall average effective rate that is the highest since the 1930s.

Surveys of economists conducted by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal had instead expected September’s trade deficit to widen to $62.0 billion.

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