The October trade deficit fell by 39% for goods and services combined, but even the goods deficit fell to monthly numbers not seen in at least five years. The October deficit in goods was $59.14 billion, down 24.5% from September, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Thursday.
The August trade deficit fell a significant 23.8%, with exports flat and imports down 5% due in large part to the 90-day reprieve from the so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs expiring.
The trade deficit rose 32.5% in July and imports were up 5.9%, but much of this can be attributed to importers bulking up on orders as the full brunt of the “Liberation Day” tariffs were set to start in August.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) upped the ante on their estimate for fiscal deficit reduction last week, all due to higher tariffs that kicked into effect this month. Tariffs are offsetting tax cuts signed into law this summer in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB).
The trade deficit fell 16% in June to a low $60.2 billion, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Tuesday, but despite a 3.7% reduction in imports, the goods deficit for the month was surprisingly resilient compared to recent years without tariffs.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), enacted in 2000, was designed to promote economic development and democratic reform in Sub-Saharan Africa by granting duty-free access to the U.S. market for thousands of products.
On July 17, at an event at New York University, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Christopher Waller, said that tariffs are not inflationary. “Tariffs are one-off increases in the price level and do not cause inflation beyond a temporary surge,” he said.
For decades, U.S. politicians have sold free trade agreements as a beacon of prosperity for the American economy. The logic was tidy: “Most of the world’s consumers live outside the U.S.—so if we open foreign markets, prosperity will follow.” On paper, it sounded plausible. But in practice, it became one of the most costly economic miscalculations in our modern history.
A Market Access Charge (MAC) might be the perfect addition to the tariff agenda; a surgical tool to tax capital inflows.
The CPA Domestic Market Share Index (DMSI) dropped abruptly in the first quarter of 2025 as the massive pre-tariff import surge driven by stockpiling heavily outweighed current U.S. manufacturing output.
