The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that a rush to get ahead of Canada's looming tariff dispute with the United States powered economic growth in the first quarter, Statistics Canada said Friday. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says real gross domestic product rose 2.2 per cent annualized in the three-month period, up a tick from 2.1 per cent in the fourth quarter. Annualized real GDP figures for the final quarter of 2024 were revised down by half a percentage point, Statscan said, and other quarters from last year were also adjusted in Friday's release. The first quarter figures topped Statscan's flash estimate for annualized growth of 1.5 per cent and beat calls for 1.7 per cent from a Reuters poll of economists. Some economists said the surprisingly strong GDP results suggest the Bank of Canada will hold its benchmark interest rate steady at its decision next week. That would keep rates at 2.75 per cent for a second consecutive meeting. BMO chief economist Doug Porter said in a note that despite the strong headline figures, first-quarter details are less rosy on closer examination. Final domestic demand, which strips out inventories and net exports, was down 0.1 per cent annually in the first quarter.