Trump pivots American commerce rules after twenty years, 2025
In 2025 President Donald Trump has imposed double‑digit import taxes on goods from nearly every country, replacing a largely free‑trade posture with a blanket tariff regime. The policy applies to a broad range of products, including those from the United States’ largest trading partners.
The effective tariff rate, which averages the taxes applied to actual imports, reached a peak in April 2025 and was nearly 17 percent in November. This level is more than seven times the average rate measured in January and the highest recorded rate since 1935.
Tariff collections exceeded $236 billion through November, a large sum but still a small portion of overall federal revenue. The U.S. trade deficit dropped from a peak of $136.4 billion in March to $52.8 billion in September, though the year‑to‑date deficit remained 17 percent above that in 2024.
U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports are now at approximately 47.5 percent; the value of goods imported from China fell about 25 percent in the first nine months. Imports from Canada also declined, while imports from Mexico, Vietnam, and Taiwan increased during the same period.
The federal‑government trading actions coincided with notable market volatility: the S&P 500 experienced its largest daily and weekly swings in April and its biggest monthly gains and losses in March and June, respectively. An official timeline of tariff moves for the year is available through the administration’s records.