‘Did Trump’s second-term tariff crusade backfire on America?’

This is apropos a letter to the Editor from this writer carried by the newspaper yesterday. This writer would like to add that by July, the Institute for International Economics reported that the US Treasury had collected USD 122 billion in new tariffs, with projections of USD 300 billion by year’s end.

The administration celebrated the figure as proof of success. Yet, beneath the headlines, economists saw a darker reality.

According to Yale’s Budget Lab, the average American household lost $3,800 in purchasing power due to higher consumer prices, while corporations suffered $34 billion in combined cost increases and sales losses. Imported machinery, metals, electronics, and everyday goods became more expensive; factories dependent on foreign parts slowed or shut down.

Meanwhile, trading partners retaliated. China imposed reciprocal duties and restricted exports of rare-earth minerals, choking US semiconductor and electric-vehicle production. Canada, long the closest ally, saw its aluminum and energy exports to the US plunge by 40 percent.

The European Union, facing tariffs averaging 20 percent, redirected nearly USD 75 billion in trade toward Asia and Africa. India, another supposed ally, tightened its own import barriers, favoring European suppliers over American ones.

By late 2025, the United States had collected roughly USD 300 billion in tariffs but lost more than USD 600 billion in trade, investment, and consumer wealth — a net loss twice as large as its revenue. Exporters saw foreign markets evaporate; inflation returned; industrial confidence plunged.

The “tariff revolution” that promised to rebuild America instead produced higher prices, weaker factories, and broken partnerships. The very slogan that won Trump re-election — “America First” — had turned into America alone.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025