The debate on tariffs has been distorted by President Trump’s detractors, especially those in the mainstream legacy media. In April, he announced plans to increase tariffs on certain goods imported into the U.S. from some foreign countries. His purpose was to level the playing field, to use tariffs as a tool for renegotiating global trade. Tariffs are effective for balancing international commerce. They remove trade barriers imposed by other countries, and they open up more markets to American producers. They also bring back thousands of jobs, mostly in manufacturing, to the U.S. In addition, tariffs provide income-tax relief, and they are easy to collect.
Trump, after declaring a national emergency, was seeking to reverse the American trade deficit, which had reached $1.2 trillion. Such deficits occur when the U.S. imports more goods and services than it exports, resulting in U.S. job losses and a decline in market share to foreign countries.
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As the months have passed since April, there is little sign of the economic disaster promised by Trump’s enemies. Thus far, the tariffs have not been big enough to cause the severe harm that some economists and the media warned us about. One reason for this, which proves that tariffs were a negotiating tool all along, is that Trump has adjusted or eliminated U.S. tariffs when other countries reduced their onerous tariffs and trade policies. That was Trump’s plan all along.
Pre-Trump national politicians underutilized the sheer economic muscle of America (the great advantage of being able to do business in the U.S.) to open up trade markets overseas; this was proven by the stunning one-sided deal Trump engineered with the European Union. And, if the U.S. tariffs were such a bad idea, where is the recession that was predicted?
The legacy media wants you, the American consumer, to believe Trump’s tariff strategy is causing consumers to pay much higher costs. That’s not truthful. Often, the nation’s tariffs are typically paid by importers at the time goods reach American ports, and sometimes those importers must pass along the costs to the consumer. But SURPRISE, it has turned out that’s not always the case! Because foreign exporters desperately need access to the American market, some have trimmed their prices to help bear the costs. An analysis by Goldman Sachs concluded that “foreign (exporters), particularly those in China, appear to be absorbing around 20% of tariff costs through price cuts”.
In addition, because inflation has been slowing, some U.S. companies are absorbing the tariff hit by choosing to pass none or only a fraction of the tariff cost on to the consumer. This has been the case with some automotive imports, toy manufacturers, aerospace & defense companies, and retailers. They have accepted the fact that their profits will be trimmed, and yet they are still not raising their prices to customers. In their earnings reports, Walmart, Home Depot, and Target “emphasized their efforts to resist price increases” to consumers.
Even some Democrats have admitted the benefits of tariffs, which can serve to rebalance global trade and reduce trade deficits: “The tariffs have not stopped the economic growth in the country”, said Democrat operative Jared Bernstein.
And, more and more American consumers are rejecting foreign-made products; a recent poll found that “half of American consumers said they are more likely to buy American-made products now than in 2024.” This means consumers have shifted their spending away from imports.
The bottom line to all this is that Trump’s tariff policies did not cause prices to increase as much as the left’s media narrative said they would. The economic slowdown predicted by Trump-haters never fully materialized. Interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and other federal tax breaks were constructively friendly. And the country has ended the year with a healthy economy and profit-laden stock and bond markets. As one economist at Apollo Global Management put it, the President may have “outsmarted all of us.”
Other stories you may want to read:
- John R. Smith: Florida Is No. 1 State to Start a Business - January 26, 2026
- Here’s the Skinny on Trump’s Tariffs - January 2, 2026
- John R. Smith: Florida Tort Reforms Are Working - December 12, 2025