Trump's Global Tariffs Curtailed Trade, Data Shows

Source: New York Times

Nov. 19, 2025, 8:42 a.m. ET


President Trump’s sweeping tariffs took a toll on trade in August, as imports dropped 5.1 percent, to $340.4 billion, after taxes on exports from roughly 90 countries went into effect on Aug. 7, newly released data from the Commerce Department showed Wednesday.

U.S. exports were essentially flat, rising 0.1 percent to $280.8 billion. Because of the sharp fall in imports, the U.S. trade deficit in goods and services for the month also dropped sharply, shrinking nearly 24 percent, to $59.6 billion, compared with July.

The data, which had been delayed by more than a month because of the government shutdown, gives the first look at trade patterns after Mr. Trump introduced what is effectively a new trading system for the United States.

The president announced global double-digit tariffs in April on what he called “Liberation Day,” saying that the previous system had cheated the United States and cost it jobs and money. While his tariffs briefly went into effect, they were then largely paused for four months as the administration tried to strike deals with trading partners.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/us/politics/trumps-tariffs-trade-data.html