Tariffs did not and will not fix the trade deficit.
The full Census Report on Trade (goods and services) for July shows the trade deficit leaped by 24.4 percent.
Exports, Imports, and Balance
- July exports were $310.7 billion, $6.6 billion less than June exports.
- July imports were $399.3 billion, $10.8 billion more than June imports.
- The July increase in the goods and services deficit reflected an increase in the goods deficit of $17.6 billion to $119.6 billion and an increase in the services surplus of $0.2 billion to $31.0 billion.
- The deficit increased 24.4 percent from June.
Three-Month Trade Averages
- The average goods and services deficit increased $11.9 billion to $78.5 billion for the three months ending in July.
- Average exports decreased $6.4 billion to $316.0 billion in July.
- Average imports increased $5.5 billion to $394.5 billion in July.
Ignoring the front-running surge in imports ahead of Trump’s liberation day tariffs, the deficit is the largest in history, eclipsing the March 2022 balance of -117,797 billion.
This sharp post-tariff deterioration underscores that the “Liberation Day” duties ultimately failed to fix long-term trade imbalances.
While the deficit temporarily shrunk in mid-2025 when the tariffs cratered import volumes, the underlying structural issues remained.
Following the Supreme Court’s striking down of the tariffs, imports have aggressively rebounded, while manufacturing construction spending has simultaneously plunged 32.6% over the last two years.
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Construction spending on Manufacturing has plunged 32.6 percent in two years.
Best economy ever, even better than his first term, yeah right Mr. President. Does he give a rat’s rear end that he has shredded every bit of credibility he might ever have had? Does he realize everything he is trying to do has been tried before and failed? Trying to tariff our way to economic prosperity is essentially trying to tax our way to prosperity, that dog don’t hunt.
yes this is true
Trade deficits won’t exist in Trump land. Trump is threatening to cut off trade with nations that have a surplus unless the Fed cuts rates. I presume he means China and most of Asia. He’s waving a gun at the country’s head and threatening to shoot.
Looks like the market if finally becoming a short. He’s shouting loud and clear that the plunge protection team has run out of funds to keep the market up.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/04/trump-fed-rates-jobs-trade.html
Cleaver said yesterday on a public conference call that the Democrats will eliminate Trumps tariffs after the elections.
Tariffs can’t work in a monopolistic market! The US has only two remaining auto manufacturers: GM & Ford. They import massive amounts of parts from Mexico and China. Putting on tariffs doesn’t incentivize those companies to produce more in the US because they can simply collude to increase prices. They’re not really competing with each other.
If you want to fix manufacturing, the government must break GM & Ford into 5 or 6 separate companies competing like mad for the world market.Then end tariffs on input materials like steel, aluminum, rubber and copper. Finally, and the important part, the government has to create a massive parts production industry by forcing parts manufacturers to produce in the US, and again, do it with lots of competition.
And this is just cars. You have to do the same with every industry.
The problem with the US is the lack of capitalism. The beauty of capitalism is constant innovation to produce better products at lower prices. That is produced by competition. When I was a young libertarian, I believed that letting shareholders buy up competition was an exercise in liberty, and that liberty would mysteriously lead to a better world for everyone. I was wrong. Liberty, bounded by government-enforced competitive capitalism, is the necessary ingredient.
You can’t fix manufacturing. The US is not competitive.
Lots more makers in US, nearly all the major manufacturers such as Toyota, that provide good paying jobs here. If a maker wants to be unethical and collude on prices, there are plenty of others ready to take their business. Govt can increase manufacturing a lot by cutting deficit spending.
what politicians cancelled Glass-Stegall in 1999?
who were they specifically?
Google is your friend.
Perhaps I should let “name” speak for himself, but I believe that was a rhetorical question.
We should give up. America could not compete before tariffs and it can’t with tariffs.
We should stick to services like Healthcare, baristas, Amazon drivers , Movies, and fast food, etc.
At least we will have Datacenters
Overpriced weapons, sold at gunpoint.
Dodgy investment securities.
iStuff
Ag commodities
Exports decreased even though the US is exporting diesel, and all hydro-carbons (LNG) that the US exports are at premium prices.
I’m getting tired of all this “winning” from tarrifs.
From Trumps own metric, things are getting ‘worse’.
(Never mind the reality that a net deficit is just consumers and government choosing to spend more than they earn and foreigners willing to finance that.)
Trump himself has never filed personal bankruptcy.His businesses filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy/reorganization four major times, in 1991, 1992, 2004, and 2009.In several of these restructurings, particularly the casino bankruptcies, shareholders were often severely impacted or completely wiped out.
Undoubtedly he is a successful businessman.
But not the stakeholders.
Now he is in charge of the country.
Undoubtedly he makes himself, his family and billionaire friends rich, super rich.
Unfortunately not the people and his country.
The same formula for his businesses and his country.
What you get when you elect a demented serial bankrupt who lines for the ‘70s.
Not to overlook the fact that he is a moron and hasn’t realised he was a nothing without daddy’s money.
That the Republican Congress can try to blame anyone but themselves for the stupid tax cuts that will lead to the bankrupting of America. The rich oligarchs will flee leaving the average Joe to pick up the establishment’s cheque
The most important issue for Americans is to protect girls from the WNBA, which has never had a biological male player.
Instead of making gender neutral bathrooms, we can just be so poor everyone takes a dump outside equally as God intended! MAGA!!!
Meanwhile, the projected deficit for fiscal 2027 is 2.4 trillion dollars, and that’s before Trump has done his economic magic. Still, we’re inching closer and closer to the External Revenue Service completely replacing the Internal Revenue Service.
Tariff fences does not make good trade partners.
All these “beautiful” tariffs are only making the trade imbalance worse. POTUS is probably the worst businessman ever. His failure rate is approaching 100%
I expect Trump to start another war to take the public’s mind off of the November elections.
He’s going to use the election fraud as the distraction
I imagine there is a whole smorgasbord of October surprises in waiting. Trump’s “flood the zone” tactics are very formidable, on purpose. Trump’s tacticians probably see this moment as existential.
What do you mean “probably”?
I’m sure he’s at 100%. Has he succeeded in anything besides theft, embezzlement, fraud, and an amazing level of corruption.
It works. He’s free as a bird, The Epstein Files are ancient history, nobody calls him out on the blatant corruption or fraud.
Getting back on track with any policies that work will be tough now, as the cupboard is bare of resources and USA credibility. The credibility gap may last a long time, with 4-year terms twice recently occupied by one such as Trump. Just attacking Trump has already proven to be no substitute for good substantive policies. Dems face a two-front war of exposing Trump while offering something USA people (and others) can trust in. The Trump squabbles will continue to create excessive light and heat, while offering up a good menu of new policies is crucial. Meanwhile, the US Senate can be an incredibly obstructive institution (occasionally by design, and for the better, often not), and I lack faith in its flipping in November.
The last time Trump actually accomplished much of anything, versus just free-riding on his name, was, I think, around 40 years ago. He has, since then, rented out, and grifted on, the magic halo of his name, with nothing behind the curtain. To paraphrase Churchill, never in the course of human sleaze has anybody ever coasted so much, on so little, for so long, with such corrosive impacts on the entire world. Now, he will save us all by bringing back the world of 1980s steam catapults and predatory finance.
The taco economy keeps rollong along. No wonder the maga followers cherish him so much.
Trump…”Fake news!”
Bessent….”Transitory”
How about Fed’s Waller this morning saying they may pause “if we keep making progress toward 2% inflation” as if that’s happening. It’s all BS now. Forget ball bearings.