Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has overturned decades of U.S. trade policy – building a wall of tariffs around what used to be a wide-open economy.
His double-digit taxes on imports from almost every country have disrupted global commerce and strained the budgets of consumers and businesses worldwide. They also raised tens of billions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury.
Trump has argued argues that his steep new import taxes are necessary to bring back wealth that was “stolen” from the U.S. He says they will narrow America’s decades-old trade deficit and bring manufacturing back to the country. But upending the global supply chain has proven proved costly for households facing rising prices. The taxes are paid by importers, who typically attempt to try to pass along the higher costs to their customers – including businesses and, ultimately, U.S. households.
And the erratic way the president rolled out his tariffs – announcing them, then suspending or altering them before conjuring up new ones – made 2025 one of the most turbulent economic years in recent memory.
Here’s a look at the impact of Trump’s tariffs over the last year, in four charts.
A key number for the overall impact of tariffs on U.S. consumers and businesses is the “effective” tariff rate – which, unlike headline figures imposed by Trump for specific trade actions, provides an average based on actual imports.
In 2025, per data from the Yale Budget Lab, the effective U.S. tariff rate peaked in April. But it’s still far higher than the average seen at the start of the year. Before finalizing shifts in consumption, November’s effective tariff rate was nearly 17% – seven times greater than January’s average and the highest since 1935.
Among selling points to justify his tariffs, Trump repeatedly said they would reduce America’s longstanding trade deficit and bring revenue into the Treasury.
Trump’s higher tariffs certainly raised money. They have raked in more than $236 billion this year through November – much more than in years past. But they still account for just a fraction of the federal government’s total revenue. And they haven’t raised nearly enough to justify the president’s claim that tariff revenue could replace federal income taxes or allow for windfall dividend checks for Americans.
The U.S. trade deficit, meanwhile, fell significantly since the start of the year. The trade gap peaked at a monthly record of $136.4 billion in March, as consumers and businesses hurried to import foreign products before Trump could impose his tariffs. The gap narrowed to $52.8 billion in September, the latest month for which data is available. But the year-to-date deficit was still running 17% ahead of January-September 2024.
Trump’s 2025 tariffs hit nearly every country in the world – including America’s biggest trading partners. But his policies had the biggest impact on U.S. trade with China, once the largest source of American imports and now No. 3 behind Canada and Mexico. U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports now total 47.5%, according to calculations by Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
The value of goods coming into the U.S. from China fell nearly 25% during the first three quarters of the year. Imports from Canada also dropped. But the value of products from Mexico, Vietnam and Taiwan grew year-to-date.
For investors, the most volatile moments on the stock market this year arrived amid some of the most volatile moments for Trump’s tariffs.
The S & P 500, an index for the biggest public companies in the U.S., saw its largest daily and weekly swings in April – and its biggest monthly losses and gains in March and June, respectively.
A recap of Trump’s trade actions this year
It’s been a roller coaster year for U.S. trade policy.
President Donald Trump launched a barrage of new tariffs in 2025, plunging the U.S. into trade wars with nearly every country. Threats and steeper import taxes often came unpredictably, with Trump claiming the levies were needed to close trade imbalances and reclaim wealth “stolen” from the U.S.
The president also used tariffs to settle personal scores or target political critics. The on-again, off-again duties – and retaliation – fueled uncertainty for businesses and consumers as households faced rising prices.
Here’s how Trump’s biggest trade actions unfolded over the year:
January-March
In his first months back in office, Trump focused new tariffs on America’s three largest trading partners: Canada, Mexico and China. Tariffs and retaliation quickly followed.
Worldwide, the U.S. raised import taxes on steel and aluminum to 25%, expanding Trump’s 2018 tariffs.
April
Trump’s trade wars escalated sharply in April. He unveiled sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs on nearly every country, sending the stock market tumbling. Hours after telling investors it was a “great time to buy,” he postponed dozens of steeper import taxes.
China was the exception. Washington and Beijing traded increasingly steep tit-for-tat levies – reaching 145% and 125%, respectively.
Separately, Trump’s 25% auto tariffs began, plunging the industry into uncertainty and prompting retaliation from Canada.
May-July
The administration spent much of the summer touting trade “framework” deals with China, the U.K. and Vietnam. But letters to dozens of other nations warned of more levies, and trade wars escalated with Brazil and India.
Trump also expanded sector-specific tariffs, hiking steel and aluminum taxes to 50%.
Meanwhile, a legal challenge gained traction. A federal court blocked some sweeping levies under an emergency-powers law, but an appeals court temporarily halted the order, allowing collections to continue as the case moved through court.
August
Heightened U.S. tariffs on more than 60 countries and the European Union took effect. Most stemmed from April’s “Liberation Day,” but Trump separately raised Canada’s import taxes to 35%.
Punishing 50% levies on goods from Brazil and India also took effect, along with a new 50% rate on most imported copper. Low-value imports lost duty-free status with the end of the “de minimis” rule.
The U.S. extended its trade truce with China. And an appeals court ruled Trump exceeded his authority in declaring national emergencies to justify tariffs – but didn’t strike them down entirely, allowing the case to go to the Supreme Court.
September-December
The administration took its tariff fight to the Supreme Court. In initial oral arguments, justices appeared skeptical about the president’s authority to impose sweeping levies.
Meanwhile, Trump continued to promise more sectoral tariffs – and 25% levies on kitchen cabinets and other furniture took effect. Other threats were delayed. Amid rising prices, the president lowered or scrapped some tariffs, notably on beef and fruit. He also suggested Americans would receive a $2,000 dividend from tariff revenue, but details remain scarce.
– WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS
