Trump's Tariffs Were Supposed to Shrink the US Goods Trade Deficit— It Grew 4% Instead - State Street SPD

President Donald Trump’s sweeping import tariffs have failed to shrink the U.S. goods trade deficit, which widened to $1.80 trillion over the last 18 months compared to $1.74 trillion in the prior period.

Highlighting the policy failure, Creative Planning Chief Market Strategist Charlie Bilello emphasized that import duties pitched as a cure yielded opposite results: "The deficit didn’t shrink.

It increased 4%." Official Commerce Data Confirms Persistent Deficits Macroeconomic statistics from the U.S.

Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census Bureau confirm this persistent structural deficit.

On a full-year basis, the U.S. goods trade deficit expanded 3.86% from $1.21 trillion in 2024 to $1.26 trillion in 2025.