economy
‘If he’d stayed on the golf course, we’d be in a better place’: experts on Trump’s tariffs, one year on
Last April, the president unleashed a tidal wave of tariffs on ‘liberation day’. Analysts say the policy has failed, even by the Trump administration’s own terms
TL;DR
- Donald Trump declared 'liberation day' on April 2, 2025, imposing import tariffs on nearly every US trading partner.
- The policy has been criticized for failing to achieve its goals of boosting manufacturing and reducing the trade deficit.
- US companies stopped hiring shortly after 'liberation day,' and the manufacturing sector shed 100,000 jobs between January 2025 and March 2026.
- Consumer confidence has slid since Trump took office, reaching near record lows by the end of 2025.
- The US deficit in goods expanded to an all-time high in 2025.
- China has been a major beneficiary, with industrial profits increasing significantly in the year to February 2026.
- Investors are reassessing their exposure to the US economy due to policy shifts, federal deficits, and perceived political interference.