US trade deficit slipped to $901 billion last year amid Trump tariffs

The US trade deficit slipped modestly in 2025, a year in which President Donald Trump upended global commerce by slapping double digit tariffs on imports from most countries.

The gap the between the goods and services the US sells other countries and what it buys from them narrowed to just over $901 billion from $904 billion in 2024, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Exports rose 6 per cent last year, and imports rose nearly 5 per cent.

The trade gap surged from January-March as US companies tried to import foreign goods ahead of Trump's taxes, then narrowed most of the rest of the year.

 

Trump's tariffs are a tax paid by US importers and often passed along to their customers as higher prices.

But they haven't had as much impact on inflation as economists originally expected. Trump argues that the tariffs will protect US industries, bringing manufacturing back to America and raise money for the US Treasury.