“One interpretation of the data is that the trade war is not having the intended effect of boosting exports and lowering imports,” Mr. Slok said. “Another interpretation is that the trade war can’t do much about that. If the consumer spends more, you will have more imports.”

Trip Tollison, chief executive of the Savannah Economic Development Authority in Georgia, said that shipping volume at the Port of Savannah was up 12 percent from a year ago and that there were almost no vacancies in the industrial real estate market. Warehouses and logistics companies have been among the most active businesses in the area.

“We’re in a great spot, no complaints for sure,” Mr. Tollison said. “We’ve got a very strong economy right now.”

The latest data could increase the likelihood that policymakers at the Federal Reserve will continue to gradually raise interest rates, in order to prevent the economy from overheating and to head off inflation. The Fed is expected to raise rates one more time this year, in December, and several times in 2019.

That has irked Mr. Trump, who criticized the chairman of the Fed, Jerome H. Powell, on Tuesday. “Every time we do something great, he raises the interest rates,” the president said.

Officials at the Fed, who do not report to the president, consider themselves above politics. Mr. Trump’s attack is highly unusual.

The steady increase in borrowing costs is already being felt in the housing market. Residential investment slid 4 percent in the third quarter, and has fallen in five of the last six quarters.